Foxfish
by Gomjibar22
Summary: Orochimaru captured Naruto when he was little and put him through the same transformation as Isaribi, this is how his life would be different. Naruto X Isaribi -has been adopted by BladeMaster Zangetsumaru under the title of "Aquatic Kitsune"
1. Chapter 1

Foxfish

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, so don't sue me!

-Orochimaru captured Naruto when he was little and put him through the same transformation as Isaribi, this is how his life would be different.

'Thought'

"Speaking"

A.N: If you haven't seen the episodes with Isaribi, I suggest you watch them on you tub.

They are surprisingly good for filler episodes (episodes 169-173)

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A three year old blond boy runs into an ally, followed closely by an angry mob of villagers.

Soon the boy runs into a dead end and desperately turns around to come face to face with the feat and fists of the mob.

'Why me?' cried the boy in his mind

He doesn't know what he did wrong to make the villagers hate him so, all he did was walk around the town.

After an hour of beating the boy to a bloody pulp the mob dispersed, their anger finally spent, leaving the boy broken in a very large pool of his own blood.

However he was still conscious and he slowly began to crawl away.

Already most of the cuts have healed and the broken bonds are starting to mend when suddenly he notices two men standing above him.

"Amazing regeneration powers… he could be useful in perfecting my technique without having to use so up so many test subjects."

Turning to the other man he continues talking

"I could perfect the process on him and then try it out on the girl to test its effects on a normal human."

"Kukuku, I see your point. You may take the boy."

"Thank you Orochimaru-sama." with that the man bent down and grabbed Naruto and flung his now unconscious body over his shoulder.

Looking towards Orochimaru he asks, "Is there anything else you need her sir?"

"Now, let's get out of this shit hole, kukuku"

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The next year went by in a haze for Naruto

It took six months for the man to get his technique down on how to perform the experiment, through a painful method of trial and error.

Naruto would have died on the first experiment if it wasn't for the Kyuubi's regeneration abilities.

But thanks to the fox, Naruto was able to heal after every mistake the man made

The last six months saw Naruto floating painfully in a tank of liquid with tubes connected to him as his body was slowly made to transform.

It was some time during this stage that Naruto discovered that he was the container for the Kyuubi.

Surprisingly he took the news well, it helped that the constant pain numbed his mind somewhat and the Kyuubi was tired from healing Naruto almost non-stop.

Also sometime during the last six months Naruto vaguely noticed another person floating in a similar tank, hooked up to the same machines he was connected to, also being transformed.

The man (A.N. I don't know his name) stood in fount of the two tank and was looking at the occupants when he herd footsteps approach behind him.

Turning around he saw that it was Orochimaru and his student Anko.

Looking at Anko the man had to hold in his laughter.

She has a look of shock, disgust, and fear spread accost her face, even as she tried to hide these emotions behind a mask.

"How are the subjects today?" asked Orochimaru

"They are ready to come out of the tanks today, sir. Subject #1 took longer than Subject #2 to complete the process because his healing abilities got in the way. But despite this setback, the change was successfully made."

(A.N: Subject #1 is Naruto and Subject #2 is Isaribi)

Looking back at the tanks the man smiled

"In fact, they are ready to come out now. Would you care to assist, Sir?"

"Kukuku, I'd love to. Anko go stand in that corner and observe what happens. I want you to notice everything."

Turning to the tanks the two men removed both occupants and put them on waiting examination tables.

Turning to the man, Orochimaru said, "It would appear that they aren't able to fully change back into normal, and there were other, unintentional, changes.

Naruto's right arm, right leg, forearm of the left arm, forehead, part of the right side of his chest, his neck, the souls of his feet, and a line under his left eye were covered in dark green scales.

Isaribi also had these same spots covered with the scales except they were on the opposite side of her body from where Naruto had his (like the way she is in the anime).

Also Naruto's sun-kissed blond hair turned a dark green-black color and his hair was less spiky. Now he has only 6 spikes of hair (three to each side) and they are all angled down with two of them acting like sideburns.

Isaribi's hair also changed form her original brown color to the same dark green-black color as Naruto.

Looking nervous and beginning to sweat, the man said, "I'm sorry Orochimaru-sama, I will have this problem fixed for the final version."

"Kukuku, see that you do."

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There you have it, Naruto is just like Isaribi now (except for the Kyuubi)

I am planning on giving Isaribi a family name. I was thinking something like Meko Isaribi.

I don't know it Meko is an actual Japanese word but the name won't leave my mind.

Tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Foxfish

Disclaimer: Don't own, so don't sue.

Thank you all who reviewed and/or put this story in their favorite story/ story alert. I didn't think that so many people would be interested in this idea, so all this feedback is great.

A special thanks goes to Lintu Hitose and Tsunami227 whose reviews helped me out with the names.

The scientist is named Amachi, and while Meko isn't an actual Japanese name, Mako is (or at least it used for Mako Tsunami from Yu-Gi-Oh). This is also funny because Mako is a type of shark and Isaribi is half fish and comes from a fishing village… It works, so Isaribi's full name is now Mako Isaribi.

Also, this is in the Naru/Anko section because, while Anko is not paired with Naruto, she will still be a main character. Sorry for the confusion this has brought to some people.

Ages

Naruto and Isaribi: 4

Anko: 14

Orochimaru: 35

Amachi: 26

Now, on with the story!

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

_Previously_

Looking nervous and beginning to sweat, the man said, "I'm sorry Orochimaru-sama, I will have this problem fixed for the final version."

"Kukuku, see that you do."

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------**

_Now_

Amachi was fuming as he deposited his two experiments in their holding cell and strapped them down to the table. How could he have known that they would be unable to hide all of their scales. They were the test subjects after all! No reason for Orochimaru-sama to get angry at him.

Scowling he looked down at the two children whom he turned into abominations and his face lightened up a bit, 'Well, at least the theory is sound.'

Turning to leave he was suddenly stopped by a hand on his wrist. Whirling around he can face to face with a sight that almost made him lose control of his bowls. Naruto was sitting up holding him, but instead of his normal blue eyes, Amachi was met with the crimson eyes of a demon.

"Kyuubi" Amachi whispered in fright.

"**Hello, good doctor**" spoke the Kyuubi in a deep sarcastic voice. "**I see you've had fun with my container's body. Hahaha! You know, when you play with toy that doesn't belong to you, it's polite to ask the owner first**" said the Kyuubi with a sadistic grin.

This comment left Amachi speechless, much to the Kyuubi's delight.

"**But since I like what you've done I will keep it… No, wait, I won't keep it, I will make it even better!" **

With that red chakra began to bubble out of Naruto's body, completely covering him and Isaribi. Soon the smell of burning flesh and the sound of flesh boiling filled the room. After a few minutes the red chakra receded. Left in its place was a sight that amazed Amachi.

Both Naruto and Isaribi had completely changed. Gone were the random dark scales that covered parts of their bodies. Now their skin was a very light green color and appeared to be made up of very fine (but strong) scales. Their feet were covered in a dark green color that went up halfway up their shins before it moved only to the outer sides of the legs and continued up the side of their bodies. There are also dark green stripes running along the entire lengths of their arms that stop at their knuckles. The two stripes meet a the neck with the leg/body strips disappearing into their armpits while the arm stripes continued up both sides of their necks and up to the front of the ears. There it splits with one part going under the adjacent eye while the other continues up the forehead and meets with the other side. This completely covers their foreheads and extends down to the bridge of their noses. Also their ears became pointed and a dark green stripe of color can be seen on the outside edges. Their teeth became pointed (like Suigetsu's) and webbing could be seen on their hands and feet. Also while their eye colors remained the same (brown for Isaribi and blue for Naruto) their pupils turned into slits and their hair remained the same (their hair is darker shade of green than the stripes on their bodies). There is also a dark green stripe on their spines extending from the top of their neck going all the way down their back.

(A.N: Naruto still has the whisker marks because of the Kyuubi inside him)

With the transformation done, the Kyuubi looked at Amachi, "Now**, their bodies are perfect. No more transforming and no more ugly appearances. Just power and these sleek bodies, Hahaha!**" Suddenly the Kyuubi became deadly serious and gave Amachi a look that sent shivers down his spine, "**Change it in anyway and I ripe you apart, starting at your feat and working slowly up.**" With that Naruto fell back onto the bed unconscious.

Amachi remained rooted in place for a couple of minutes before quickly leaving the room to go see Orochimaru.

XxXxX

Turning the corner, Amachi went to the room where he felt Orochimaru's chakra coming from. Upon coming to the open door, he saw his master's neck extended out and clamped upon the base of Anko's neck. He watched in fascination as Orochimaru's neck retracted and Anko began to cry out in pain on the floor.

"I thought you liked her as a student?" asked Amachi when Orochimaru left the room.

"I did, but seeing her reaction to the experiment showed me that she doesn't have the strength to stomach what I do. If she survives the curse seal then she will be of some use, if not, she is replicable, kukuku. Now tell me, what brings you here in such a hurry? I would have thought you would be playing with your new pets a little while longer."

"Actually, sir, that is why I'm here" Amachi said with his brow beginning to sweat. He then goes into detail about what happened with the Kyuubi, how it changed Naruto's and Isaribi's bodies and it's threat to him if further tampering took place.

By the time he was done explaining what has happened Orochimaru had a look of anger and annoyance on his face. "This can complicate things… I was hoping to conduct other experiments on the boy, but according to what you said the Kyuubi will interfere… violently. _Sigh_ Well, we can still train them and put them to use as aquatic tools." Looking up at Amachi he continued, "Kukuku, the Kyuubi might have done you a favor. Study their DNA and see what he changed. This could help you perfect the process, kukuku." And with that Orochimaru began to walk back to his private lab to continue working on his own sick experiments and Amachi went to his lab do what Orochimaru had suggested. All the while the screams of pain and anguish could be heard from Anko echoing throughout the base.

XxXxX

It took a week for the curse seal to fully setting in on Anko. One agonizing week where her every waking moment was spent in pain. Sometime during the ordeal Orochimaru came in to check on her. It was then that he told her that all his previous students had died because of the seal and that it looked like she would be added to that list.

However, this gave her the motivation to survive the ordeal. Not to impress Orochimaru, but rather to resist him, to prove him wrong. 'I will survive this, I will not be weak' was the sole thought running through her mind all the while her body was ravaged with pain caused by the seal.

On the eighth day the pain finally subsided and Anko slowly got up from the floor and started to limp/crawl towards the door of the room. Right as she got to the door it opened up to reveal Orochimaru standing there.

"Kukuku, congratulations Anko-chan, kukuku. You have surpassed my expectations for you. You have proven yourself worthy to me, kukuku" laughed Orochimaru.

Anko opened her mouth to try to tell the man, she until recently admired and loved, off. But all that came out of her parched lips was a pitiful sounding rasp. This attempt of defiance brought a twinkle to Orochimaru's eyes and he let out a sadistic laugh that filled the room and the adjoining hallway.

"Kukuku, that's it Anko-chan. Use you anger hate me, and in doing so I will control you!"

Anko knew what he said to be true. She could feel the curse seal calling to her, to use its power, but she knew that by using that power she would be striped of her free will and become a slave to the man she hated. Forcefully she pushed the seal back into submission, but its voice was still there.

This act of resistance sapped Anko of her remaining strength and she slumped to the floor, utterly exhausted.

"Kukuku, resist all you want, you can't escape it. Even if you leave here you will bear it as a stigma, with my voice always in the back of you're mind. You will never be free, kukuku!" And with that Orochimaru walked away from Anko lying on the floor, not even bothering to lock her back into the room.

XxXxX

Anko's eyes slowly opened.

The first thing she noticed was that while her body still hurt, she felt much better than she had in a while. 'Maybe it was because I threw up" she smirked to herself, eyeing the pool of vomit right in front of face.

Slowly she stood, bracing her hands on the wall until her head cleared and she could feel her leg again. Taking a deep breath she began to formulate her plan on what she was going to do.

'First things first, I need weapons and solder pills (to get her energy back because she doesn't have time for a full meal to regain her strength). Then I need to get out of this god forsaken place here.'

With her mind made up on what she was going to do, Anko stealthily made her way back to her room, making sure to avoid Orochimaru and Amachi. Once in her room she quickly popped two solder pills and took a long swig of some energy drink she kept in a canteen. She quickly grabbed her necessary gear (kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and other weapons/supplies) and places a larch stack of explosive notes on her bed, set to go off in half an hour, 'Here's my good bye present, you snake bastard!'

Anko began to make her escape when she remembered the fate of Naruto and Isaribi (experiment #1 and #2 is what she knows them by). Stopping in her tracks she begins to mentally debate with herself, 'Should I go get them? No? Yes? Twenty minutes until the bomb goes off, not enough time to drag two kids out of this place… I could just release them… Yea, that's what I will do! They're part fish so they should be able to get off the island fine, I hope.'

With her course decided she quickly made her way to the holding cell were the two were located. Inside the room she found them both naked in two separate fish tanks. Upon seeing her they began to set out a series of sheiks/whistles that sounded similar to wail calls (their minds are in shock over what happened so they reverted back to animalistic instincts which are more prevalent because of the changes that the experiment and Kyuubi caused).

Quickly Anko smashed the tanks open, spilling the water and the children all over the floor. Naruto and Isaribi sat crouching on the floor looking at Anko with animalistic curiosity.

Smiling at the two of them Anko said, "Well, you're free, so ja ne!" and with that she took of with thirteen minuets till the bomb goes off with Naruto and Isaribi following closely behind her.

Anko was able to make it to the opposite shores right as the bomb she planted went off, causing a good portion of the island that the base was located on to crumble and fall into the sea. Smiling she plopped down on the sands of the beach, her strength fading from her. Before she slipped into unconsciousness she noticed the forms of Isaribi and Naruto in the surf.

"Glade to see you two got out" Anko said smiling as she passed out.

And that is how the ANBU of Konoha found the three. Drawn by the explosion they found Anko lying on the beach, unconscious, and Naruto and Isaribi in the surf watching over her.

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That it for this chapter! Please tell me what you think.

Also, does anyone know a good translating website for jutsus? I would really appreciate it.

Now to clear some things up:

-The dark green strips are going up both sides of Naruto's and Isaribi's bodies

-Naruto and Isaribi can communicate with each other through the sheiks/whistles that they are making. Think of it as a language that they instinctively know (it can also act as sonar)

-The Kyuubi has his own agenda when he changed Isaribi along with Naruto, so don't think he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart.


	3. Chapter 3

Foxfish

Disclaimer- Still don't own this, so get off my back!

Four things I forgot to mention about Naruto's and Isaribi's change in appearance

1) Their nails are sharper than normal humans, but not as sharp as Kyuubified Naruto nails, and they are black in color (for both hands and feet)

2) Their lips are a slightly darker shade of green than their skin (not the stripes)

3) They have no bellybuttons

4) Their gills are located on their necks, right below their jaw line. There are three gill slits per each side of their necks.

Also they will not be transforming to use their 'fish powers'. As they are now they have the increased strength and the hard skin that Isaribi had in her transformed state in the anima. But because the scales are smaller and finer, they are softer to the touch and Naruto's and Isaribi's sense of touch is undisturbed. Sorry if I didn't make this clear enough when writing the last chapter.

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Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi: 4

Anko: 14

Yamato: 16

Kakashi: 18

Third Hokage: 62

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'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_- Sounds like shrieks/whistles and clicks, similar to whale songs

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_Previously_

"Glade to see you two got out" Anko said smiling as she passed out.

And that is how the ANBU of Konoha found the three. Drawn by the explosion they found Anko lying on the beach, unconscious, and Naruto and Isaribi in the surf watching over her.

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_Now_

Anko began to regain consciousness.

She could feel the soft bed and sheets surrounding her and judging by just how much she felt, she was naked under the sheets. She could feel a monitor on her wrist and hear the soft rhythmical beeping of a machine in the background, in tune with her heart.

'Ok, so I'm in a hospital.' Opening her eyes she immediately closed her eye's again, 'Yup, defiantly a hospital. Why the hell are lights always so bright in a hospital, and right above your face?'

Opening her eyes slowly this time she blinked to clear the dots from her eyes. Taking in her surroundings she noted that she was by herself in a small white room with a window off to her left. Looking out the window she recognized where she was, she was back in Konoha.

Trying to sit up, she immediately cried out in pain as her body felt like it was on fire and it seamed to be coming from the curse seal. Sitting fully up and letting the sheets fall down to her waist she placed her fight hand over the curse seal. This seamed to calm the pain as it faded away to a dull ach in a couple of minuets.

Taking a few deep breaths she regained her composure and absentmindedly brushed away a stray lock of hair that fell on her now sweaty forehead. Suddenly the door to the hospital room opened up and entered the third Hokage followed by an ANBU agent who was a little older than Anko wearing a tiger mask. Upon seeing Anko's current state of dress (she is still showing off the Mitarashi twins for the world to see) the Sarutobi just smiled while the ANBU agent turned his head, a faint trail of blood coming from the nose holes in the mask.

Coughing slightly and lightly tugging on his shirt, Sarutobi said, "Feeling better Anko?"

"Fine, thank you" Anko said cautiously, trying to find the meaning behind the Hokage's strange behavior. Then a slight breeze reminded her of her state of undress and turning red as a tomato she quickly covered her self up. "M-My apologies, Hokage-sama."

Laughing Sarutobi said, "It's ok, I'm a married man with a daughter, so it's nothing new. However, I was worried for poor tiger-san here" he said gesturing to the ANBU agent next to him.

Said ANBU agent quickly game to attention and even with his mask on, you could see the color draining from his face.

"Moving on," said Sarutobi, his voice becoming serious, "I need you to tell me what happen."

And that is how Anko spent the first couple of hours back in Konoha, telling the Hokage and his ANBU guard everything about her time with Orochimaru. Every little detail she told, even things she would normally keep her mouth shut about, this is because she was injected with truth serum before she woke up. When she was done with her tale the Hokage told her before leaving that the council will be deliberating do decide her fate, but that if all when well she would be allowed to be a Konoha nin after a probation period. After that was said, Sarutobi left but left the tiger ANBU member behind.

XxXxX

Returning to his office, Sarutobi sighed, he was getting to old for this shit. He just went over what Anko said and it filled his heard with regret. 'How many lives will that mistake I made destroy? Now three more lives have been clamed.'

Sitting down at his desk he looked down at a metical folder that was slightly burnt. It was from Amachi and it contained the data about the transformation Naruto and Isaribi went through. While the body of said mad doctor was found charred and missing a few parts due to Anko's bomb, the data he collected after the transformation was complete miraculously survived to explosion.

Opening the folder up, Sarutobi began to read…

_Subject #1_

_Age: 4 years old_

_Sex: Male_

_Status: Container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and first subject in Project Sea Power._

_Subject #2_

_Age: 4 years old_

_Sex: Female_

_Status: second subject in Project Sea Power_

_Day 1 after transformation process_

_After removing the subjects from the tank and bringing him to the recovery room, the Kyuubi took control of subject #1 body. After a brief confrontation the Kyuubi transformed both subject #1 and #2 into a more perfected form of the intended results for Project Sea Power. Soon after the change was complete subject #1 once again fell unconscious. DNA was removed to from both subjects for study and the seal for the Kyuubi was examined on subject #1. It appears that it was weakened from the transformation process but is slowly repairing itself. At the rate it is repairing it will be fully repaired in four days._

_Day 2_

_The DNA results on both the subjects have been completed. Despite their changes, both of them remain human with the change taking up the gene segments that are reserved for blood limit. It appears that as a bloodline it is hyper dominant. This means that any children that the subject have with normal people will have the same transformation. This will override all other blood limits the other parent might have in favor of the transformation. It also appears that it will not loose it's potency by breeding out of the "family" so to speak that is a problem with other bloodlines. This means that in two to three generations times we could amass an army of solders with the transformation just by using Subject #1 and #2 as breeding stock._

_The one question that still bugs me is why. Why did the Kyuubi also transform Subject #2 as well as Subject #1. By talking with the Kyuubi today, who still can control subject #1 unconscious body, he said that he would not have a weak host. When I asked him about subject #2 he just laughed and said that he experiences everything that subject #1 experiences. This lead me to wonder if the Kyuubi transformed subject #2 so subject #1 could have a mate, or at least someone he could have sex with, so the Kyuubi could feel the pleasure. I'm sure this is one of the reasons but I also believe the Kyuubi just likes to mess around with and destroy people's lives._

_Day 3_

_The results of the DNA test done yesterday about the potency and nature of the bloodline were confirmed today with more tests. The blood limit has officially been named the Mer blood limit. However after studding it, it appears that we won't be able to artificially give people this blood limit. My suggestion is that we use these two as breading stock at the earliest possible time, age 14 if my data about their physical growth is correct._

_Day 4_

_The seal for the Kyuubi has finished healing and both subjects remain unconscious, nothing new to report. By looking back on the conversations with the Kyuubi, I have been able to surmise that the Kyuubi transformed subjects #1 and #2 to a) increase their power so the Kyuubi would have a strong vessel, b) to experience pleasure, both during the transformation and latter, and c) to screw around and mess up not only their lives but the experiment itself. _

_Day 5_

_Both subjects have awoken, but there is a complication. They appear to have reverted back to a more primitive animal mindset due to the stress placed upon them. They can communicate with each other through their own language (fish speak is what I like to call it). They also appear to know how to instinctual hunt for fish and swim. While this is a set back, it doesn't seem like these results are permanent. Given some time, their minds should reset themselves. _

_Day 6_

_A physical was done on the subjects. Their scales prove to be ten times harder than human skin, but because they are so small, their skin appears to be soft and they can feel it when the scales are touched. Their eyes operate both in and out of water perfectly with no problems and they are at least three times as strong as a normal human. They can handle Antic tempter water and near boiling temperature water, all while they are naked and in a span of a couple of minuets from each other with no negative effects upon their bodies. However, they don't like electricity and are slightly more susceptible to it than a normal human._

_Day 7_

_The subjects seem to be able to handle pain at varying levels extremely well, but this might just be the effect for their current mindset. Both subject #1 and #2 seam to be forming a close bond with each other and I found them sleeping next to each other in their tank this morning. _

Reading this information over again, Sarutobi sighed, he was getting way to old for this shit.

A knocking on the door awoke him from his thought and he said "Enter."

Coming into the room was an ANBU agent wearing a dog mask with gravity defying silver hair. Walking up to the desk the nin said, "Hokage-sama, the council is in session to decide the fate of Anko-san and the children. You are needed there."

Sighing, Sarutobi said, "Thank you Kakashi, I will be their momentarily."

Bowing slightly Kakashi turned his back on the Hokage and left the room. Sarutobi stood up, fixed his robes and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XxXxX

Entering the council room Sarutobi looked at all of the assembled council members. There were the clan heads, his two former team mates, and elected officials from the town. The only thing that they all shared in common was that they were all ninjas of Konoha at one time or another.

Taking his seat Sarutobi began to talk, "I have called this meeting to inform you of a series of events that have taken place over the last couple of days…" (he goes into a long explanation about how Anko blew up Orochimaru's base, that her story was verified through truth serum, and that she has the cures seal).

"There is also the condition of the two children that where found with her. Both of them were experimented upon by Orochimaru and as a result given a new aquatic blood limit that transformed them into "fish people" for lack of a better word. One of them we only know her name and age, one Mako Isaribi age 4. The other, however, is a citizen of Konoha … Uzumaki Naruto."

Upon hearing the fact that the Naruto was back the council went into an uproar. They thought that they were finally rid of the Kyuubi brat once and for all. So sure of the fact that he was dead or gone the revoked the thirds law surrounding him and the secret that he was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. It is now public knowledge and even in the history books that the Kyuubi is sealed inside of him.

Almost immediately some of the counsel members began calling for his execution while the others discussed locking him up or letting him roam free. The ruckus got so bad that Sarutobi was forced to quiet them down using his killing intent.

"Now that I have your attention," he said eyeing the counsel members. "Lets discus what should happen to Anko-san, Isaribi-chan, and Naruto-kun. The cures seal can be blocked off on Anko-san but the question is will she still remain loyal to Konoha or betray it. As for Isaribi-chan and Naruto-kun, they are victims in this case and need time to recover and attempt to live normal lives."

"Hokage-sama, can you tell us more about this transformation that the children when through?" asked Hiashi Hyuuga.

This made Sarutobi mentally cringe. He wanted to avoid telling the council all the details but since they asked, by law he was forced to tell them. Passing out copies of Amachi's report Sarutobi said, "Its better if you read the medical reports done by the man who conducted the experiment in the first place."

Very quickly the council read over the report. When they were done one of the members said, "She has been corrupted by the demon as well. We can't let her live."

This comment was met with approval and disapproval from both sides. Finally having enough of the constant bickering Sarutobi said, "ENOUPH! We will not be executing two children and that is final. However the fate of Anko-san is still in question. We could execute her, put her in jail for the rest of her life, or put her on probation and then reinstate her as an active shinobi. I suggest we go with the third option. We are still low on our shinobi numbers from the Kyuubi attack and her power can be useful. From what information we were able to retrieve, she is at least high-chunin level in strength and knowledge if not more."

"I agree with Hokage-sama on this," said one council member. "We need all the ninja we can get and the two children can be used to start a new clan. Think how useful a clan that could operate underwater would be to the village."

The other council member, even those who hated Naruto, couldn't argue with this logic and agreed to what the Hokage proposed.

"And with that, this meeting is over." Said Sarutobi as he stood up and left the room.

XxXxX

Back in the hospital Anko had just fallen back to sleep and the ANBU member was sitting in a chair when the door to the room opened. In walked/crawled Naruto and Isaribi (remember they are still feral from the mental trauma) in hospital gowns. The ANBU member noticed them but decided to do nothing.

He knew who they were and he also knew that they came in with Anko. But even if he knew them he wasn't going to let his guard down. The kids bite and scratch a lot as two ANBU members found out the hard way when they retrieved them from the surf.

He watched as Isaribi made her way to Anko, curled up on her chest, and fell asleep. This seen would have made him laugh if he didn't see Naruto coming towards him. He wasn't afraid of Naruto because of the Kyuubi (he has ways around that problem) but he wasn't in the mood to get bitten by him ether. But what Naruto did do surprised him to no end.

Naruto walked/crawled right up to him curled up in his lap, where he promptly fell asleep. At first the ANBU member was nervous, but that soon passed and as he looked down at the kid he couldn't help but to think how cute he looked (he's NOT a pedophile people! Get your minds out of the gutter)

After about ten minuets of this the door opened again and in walked the Hokage. Looking at the ANBU member who didn't come to attention when he walked into the room he noticed Naruto curled up in his lap and Isaribi curled up on the seeping Anko's chest.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama," said the ANBU agent. "They came in here on their own and fell asleep and I didn't want to disturb him by standing up."

Chuckling the Hokage said, "its fine Yamato-kun (if you saw that coming then you get a cookie), I understand."

Walking over to Anko, Sarutobi gently nudged her awake. "Anko-san, the council has come to its decision," he said once she was fully awake and aware of the child on her chest. "You will be placed on a six month probation period and afterwards you will be tested to see what your ninja ran should be. The council has also decided to let Isaribi-chan and Naruto-kun live in freedom in the village."

"What will happen to them?" asked Anko.

"Well, seeing how they already feel comfortable around you, how about you take care of them. And in return you will only have a moth of probation instead of six. Sound fair?" Sarutobi said with a small smile.

"I accept, Hokage-sama"

XxXxX

(time skip)

_It's been one year since Anko returned to Konoha_ _with Naruto and Isaribi. To say that the villagers were unhappy with the Kyuubi brat's return would be an understatement. Within an hour after his return was made public three separate mobs had been formed and were subdued in a peaceful manner (as peaceful as ANBU agents can be). But once the villagers saw his new appearance they began to freak-out even more. Luckily for Naruto and Isaribi, whom the villagers dammed by association, there appearance unsettled the villagers so much that most of them stayed away, choosing to insult, ignore, and in other ways mentally abuse the two where they were to afraid to physically abuse. _

_Anko was also having a ruff time readjusting to life in the village. Because her association with Orochimaru came out she became known as the Snake Whore and was likewise shunned by the village just like Naruto and Isaribi. Some of the shinobi were nice to her, but the only ones that showed her any true kindness was her long time friend _Kurenai_, the third Hokage _Sarutobi_, and surprisingly Yamato. _

_After her month long probation Anko was tested by three jonins to see what rank she should be placed at. She was able to take out two of them before the third Jonin took her down. Based on her skill she was given the rank of Jonin with the possibility of joining ANBU in six months after her loyalties had been assured and skills verified through missions. Needless to say the ANBU gained a new member in six months and she was given the snake mask and placed in the same squad as Yamato (the tiger mask if you forgot already)._

_However, because she was in ANBU and doing missions, Anko was not always there for Naruto and Isaribi. She would help them and comfort them when she could, but when she wasn't around they were the only ones the other had (they are still just friends you perverts). _

_That brings us to the present day. The chunin exams are once again being held in Konoha_ _and it is the month between the second and third exam (the month is July, just to let you know)._

Kisame was sitting on the surface of one of the lakes near a training ground. All of the members of his genin cell have made it to the third exam and were currently using the time break between the second and third exam to get some training in. The three chunin hopefuls were currently working on their chakra control by seeing how long they could jump up and down on the lake surface. Not only did this work on their control but it also built their leg mussels and increased their stamina, a three for one deal in Kisame's book.

A loud splash was heard as on of his student's fall into the lake. This brought a savage laugh out of Kisame as he beheld his student, sitting in a foot of water covered in mud (they're practicing near the shore). "I think that is enough for right now. You three go get some lunch and then come back and we will try again. Only this time you will pump chakra to your legs as you jump to increase the height of your jump," he said, still chuckling.

A course of "Yes sensei" could be heard as the three mist shinobi walked off.

"And for heaves sake, if you scare any leafies make sure you have them pee their pants," he yelled at their disappearing form.

Pulling a sealing scroll from his jonin vest he unfurled in on his lap. With a puff of smoke, a sushi set appeared in Kisame's out stretched hand. Grinning savagely he began to devour his favorite meal, all the while he was still sitting on the surface of the lake.

He was almost done with his meal when he felt the water underneath him move with the presence of two objects underneath him. Glancing down he sees two sleek forms moving through the water, barley visible in the lake. As he's watching the two forms they suddenly veered up and surface their heads right in front of him.

To say that Kisame was shocked by their appearance is an understatement. Here, right before him are two kids no older than five, covered in scales, and breathing underwater with gills. The first thought that coursed Kisame's mind was 'I knew my mother was a whore, but I never thought she got around this much.'

Thus thought caused him to chuckle and break into a smile that would cause a baby to cry. But instead of being frightened Naruto and Isaribi just returned the feral grin with their own sharp teeth.

Seeing this Kisame's smile grew wider and then took two pieces of sushi and tossing it to them said, "Catch!"

Both Naruto and Isaribi opened their mouths and moved a little but up out of the water and caught the sushi in their mouths, which they quickly devoured.

"Thanks sharky-san!" said Naruto as he broke out into a foxy smile.

Chuckling at the nickname Kisame said, "The name's Hoshigaki Kisame…" but he stopped and looked down at his plate. While he was introducing himself he was reaching for another piece of sushi but he realized he just gave the last peaces to the two kids in front of him.

Sighing he got up from his sitting position and when to the shore where his bag was to get more sushi. Pulling out the second plate of sushi he turned to Naruto and Isaribi. "So, my fishy friends, you got any names?"

"Uzumaki Naruto"

"Mako Isaribi"

"Well then my little maelstrom and shark (play on what their family names mean), care to join me for some more?" he said holding out the plate of sushi.

Now Kisame isn't usually this nice with kids and is legendary for his protectiveness over his sushi, but he is curious about the two and their apparent blood limit/ mutation and he figured that the best way to observe them is to play nice.

Quickly the two came out of the water and walked over to Kisame. Naruto was wearing a pair of black shorts and a gray t-shirt with the Uzumaki spiral on the back in orange. Isaribi was wearing a pair of black shorts and a blue t-shirt with embroidery of waves on the right sleeve in white. On their feet they had on black sock like things (think what Envy wears on his feat in Fullmetal Alchemist) that aloud their enabled their webbed feet to function properly while offering some protection to the soles of their feet. (A.N: their shirts and shorts are waterproof)

Kisame took in their appearance as they came out of the water, noticing that they were completely covered in the green scales (description is in chapter 2). Quickly they sat down in front of him and looked up (he towers over them even when he is sitting). Kisame stared back for a few seconds, observing the two before he placed the plate of sushi on the ground in between the three of them.

"Hey Kisame-san! What are you doing hear? And why does your head band look different from everyone else? Why?" asked Naruto in a cheerfully hipper voice that only a five year old could make as he took a bite out of the piece of sushi in front of him.

"What is this food called? It's really good! Right Naru-kun?" asked Isaribi.

"Right you are Isi-chan! So what is it called? Come on, tell us! Please?" asked Naruto as both he and Isaribi gave Kisame puppy eyes.

"HEY! One question at a time! For starters this amazing food is called sushi. Second, I am a shinobi from Kirigakure, and I am here because of the chunin exams that my genin team is taking part in."

"So does that mean you a jonin?" asked Isaribi.

"Actually I'm ranked higher than a jonin! I'm a member of the seven swordsmen of mist!" Kisame said proudly puffing out his chest.

"That's so cool!" shouted Naruto.

"Is that your sword?" asked Isaribi pointing towards Kisame's sword covered in its usual wrappings.

"Yes it is, and NO you may not see it or touch it!" Kisame said as he glared at the two children.

"Aw, you're no fun." huffed Naruto. "When we become ninjas we will get cooler swords and not let you see them, ha!"

Raising his eyebrow Kisame said, "You two are going to become Leaf-nins?"

"Yup!" replied Naruto and Isaribi

"We start classes start tomorrow at the academy!" said a happy Isaribi.

"Yea, it's going to be so cool to be a ninja and learn all those cool attacks!" shouted an excited Naruto.

"Yes but remember being a ninja isn't all fun and games," said a grinning Kisame, but on the inside he was thinking, 'Dam it! Now Konoha will have underwater specialty ninjas. This could poise a threat. Maybe I should…'

His musings were cut off by the return of his genin team.

"Hey sensei we're back… HOLY SHIT!! SENCE WHEN DID YOU HAVE KIDS!!"

"Their not mine you fucking assholes. Just for that, laps around the surface of the lake. NOW!" Kisame shouted and seeing the predatory look in his eyes the three genin quickly took off.

Turning back to the kids, Kisame noticed that they were on the ground, laughing at the antics. Naruto was laughing so hard that he had to hold on to the side of his chest while Isaribi's gills were puffed out from laughing.

"Yes, laugh it up brats but just remember…HEY! You ate all of the SUSHI YOU BRATS!!" yield Kisame.

This caused Naruto and Isaribi to laugh even more, despite the death glare from the shark man.

Kisame was getting ready to make some more sushi out of the two kids when he heard someone enter the aria, coming towards him. Looking to his right he saw that a Konoha ANBU agent wearing a snake mask had just entered the field.

Before he could do anything Naruto called out and waved, "Nii-chan! Over here!"

"There you are Naruto, Isaribi. You two have to get ready for your first day at the academy tomorrow. So get going now and I will see you at home," said Anko in a sing song voice that warned of punishment if she wasn't listened to.

"Ok, fine, we're gone," said Naruto as he stood up and grabbed Isaribi's hand. "See ya around Kisame-san!" shouted Naruto while Isaribi called back to him and shouted "Bye!"

"Sorry if they caused you any trouble Kisame-san," said Anko as she gave him a slight bow.

"It was bearable," said Kisame. "They just surprised me. I didn't know Konoha had a blood limit like that."

"It didn't before they came along. Now if you will excuse me," said Anko in a sad voice as she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

This left Kisame sitting in the middle of the field thinking about the snake masked ANBU agent's words. Little did he know that he was fated to meet the Naruto again in the future, only on much different circumstances.

XxXxX

That's it for this chapter. Next chapter: The Ninja Academy!!

Please review and tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

Foxfish

Disclaimer- Why do you think I own this? Why?

----------------------------

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi: 5

Anko: 15

Yamato: 17

Kakashi: 19

Third Hokage: 63

----------------------------

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_- Sounds like shrieks/whistles and clicks, similar to whale songs

----------------------------

_Previously_

"It was bearable," said Kisame. "They just surprised me. I didn't know Konoha had a blood limit like that."

"It didn't before they came along. Now if you will excuse me," said Anko in a sad voice as she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

This left Kisame sitting in the middle of the field thinking about the snake masked ANBU agent's words. Little did he know that he was fated to meet the Naruto again in the future, only on much different circumstances.

----------------------------

_Now_

Naruto and Isaribi got up early to get ready for their first day at the academy. The sun was shining the birds were chirping. Quickly getting dressed in the same clothes they wore the other day they raced to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. Naruto and Isaribi share a room in the small apartment but they have a curtain set up to give them their own private changing areas.

Coming into the Kitchen they saw that Anko was waiting for them, dressed in her ANBU gear but with the mask off. Smiling as the two children raced into the room she asked, "Ready for your first day at the academy?"

"You betcha Anko-neesan!" shouted an excited Naruto.

"Yup!" replied an equally excited Isaribi.

"Good, good. Now since this is such a special day, I made pancakes for breakfast! So eat up before they get cold" said Anko, smiling at the children's reactions.

Upon hearing the word 'pancakes' both Naruto and Isaribi were at the small table in a flash and began inhaling the pancakes at an alarming rate.

"Hey! Hey! Slow down. Their not going to run away on you!" said Anko as she ate her pancake at a more reasonable pace.

"Bot be bot want bo be late! (But we don't want to be late)" said Naruto, his mouth full of food.

"Naruto" said Anko, looking at him strait in the eye. "What have I said about talking with food in your mouth?"

"Um, add liquid to it?" said Naruto with a grin on his face.

"No, swallow your food, then talk" said Anko in an exasperated voice.

"Anko-neesan we just want to get going to the academy as soon as possible! It going to be so much fun!" said an excited Isaribi, trying to alleviate the situation.

"Fine, remember I will be there to pick you up today after class. I have to report in soon so I can't drop you off, sorry" said Anko, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"It's ok, Anko-neesan. We can get to the academy by ourselves" said Isaribi.

"Yea! Don't worry about it" said Naruto as he reached for another pancake.

"Ok, be careful and have fun," said Anko as she got up from the table and cleaned off her dish.

After putting her snake mask on, Anko said goodbye to the children one last time before she left to head towards the ANBU headquarters.

After Anko left, Naruto and Isaribi quickly finished up their meals and got ready to leave. Leaving the house, Naruto and Isaribi put on dark green Akatsuki-like cloaks and put the hoods up over their heads. Leaving their apartment they locked the door behind them and quickly made their way to the academy.

Making their way through the town they avoided the stares and the sneers that the villagers would shoot at them as they passed. Reaching the academy they arrived with a few minutes to spare before class started.

Standing outside of the academy Naruto and Isaribi took at the crowd at the entrance. There were many parents there wishing their children well seeing them off for the first day of class.

Cautiously Naruto and Isaribi tried to slip into the academy unnoticed, but they were soon spotted. Immediately whispers started to circulate amongst the parents.

"What are the demon and the monster doing here?"

"How can they letthem join the academy?"

"I heard they're being raised by the snake-bitch."

"They're bad news. I just hope my kids stay away from them."

Entering their classroom the students were not much better than their parents. They began whispering to on another about how their parents told them to stay away from them and that they were bad news.

It didn't help that Naruto and Isaribi were also the youngest members of the class. Normally a student enters the academy at the age of six, but because of the fact that they needed to learn how to defend themselves and because Konoha wanted underwater shinobi as soon as possible, the Hokage allowed Naruto and Isaribi to enter the academy one year early.

But this decision only served to ostracize the two even further from their classmates. Now they had to contend not only with their looks and reputation but there was also the age gape when they try to mingle with their classmates.

Quickly making their way to the back row, the two were half way up when one boy stuck out his foot and tripped Isaribi, causing her to fall on her face.

Acting instinctively, Naruto jumped on the boy and slugged him across the face, sending him sprawling on the floor and loosening some of his teeth. But during his rush to defend Isaribi, the hood on Naruto's clock fell down, revealing his green and scaly skin and pointed ears.

The entire room gasped and moved away from the two when they saw him. They had heard from their parents that these two were monsters, but they never expected it to be like this.

Quickly Naruto brought his hood back over his face, but the damage was done. Letting out a disappointed sigh he helped Isaribi up off the floor and the two of them made their way to the back row.

Soon their chunin teacher entered the room and began to take role call. When he got to Naruto's name you could see the hate in his eyes and when he got to Isaribi's name, there was disgusted in his eyes.

Yes, it was looking to be a fun time at the academy.

XxXxX

As the academy years passed by, Naruto and Isaribi grew closer and closer together while making very few friends. In fact, only two people in the entire class were at all nice to the fish pair.

One was a boy named Lee. Lee had a deformity in his chakra circulatory system that prevented him from using chakra and could only rely on his taijutsu, which was mediocre. Because of this he was picked on and ostracized from the rest of the class.

The other was a girl named Kanna who specialized in genjutsu and weapons. She was able to see past Naruto and Isaribi's physical appearance to see that they were good people. But sadly she died in there third year when she was attacked by a ninja from another country who was targeting the next generation of Konoha shinobi. The ninja was caught, but he was able to kill himself before any information about where he came from could be extracted from him.

The teachers of the academy would ignore Naruto and Isaribi or when they did pay any attention to them was to belittle them in front of the entire class or to punish them. They particularly liked to have the two spar against each other and not let up until one of them was on the ground bleeding.

To them it was like watching an animal fight and the teachers were known for taking bets that soon the other students would join in on. Even the students in the other classes would come out and watch the two "freaks" fight each other.

The teachers did this to try to drive a wedge between the pair, but in reality it only made their bond stronger.

They would use their fights as opportunities to test their limits and to hone their skills with one another so that they could work as a perfect pair. This plan works so well that by their six year (they're 11, Lee is 12) their fights looked less like actual fights and more like a well choreographed dance.

Because their teachers wouldn't teach them the proper basics of being a ninja, most of their training came from Anko and Yamato.

Anko and Yamato's relationship developed over the years with both of them in the same ANBU squad. It was not an uncommon site to see the pair walking around town or eating dango together, sometimes with Naruto and Isaribi, sometimes alone.

But as far as romantic involvement between the two, they kept it very private and personal. It wasn't because Yamato was embarrassed to be with Anko or vice versa. Rather it was because as ANBU members they are targets for enemy shinobi, so by hiding their relationship with each other they kept their enemies in the dark.

But Naruto and Isaribi were privy to the two's secret and started calling Yamato "Yamato-niisan."

From Anko and Yamato, Naruto and Isaribi learned the basics about being a ninja and two water jutsus. The Water Stream no Jutsu which sends out a stream of water at the target and by adjusting the amount of chakra used can go from knocking an opponent back to crushing their bones and internal organs. The second jutsu was the Water Blast no Jutsu which sends a compressed ball of water at the opponent, hitting them with the force of a sledgehammer.

They also taught the two the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu and the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. The Mizu Bunshin because they will be operating in a water environment for most of their shinobi careers and it's very easy to do given enough water. Plus, in a watery environment, Mizu Bunshins can hide their presence better than any other type. They then taught them Kage Bunshin because Naruto couldn't pull off the regular Bunshin and because of how useful of a technique it can be. They both have large chakra reserves so it wasn't dangerous to teach them the Jutsu, just that Naruto can make more clones than Isaribi.

Anko would have liked to train the two some more, but unfortunately her ANBU schedule wouldn't allow it. They were lucky as it was that they found the time to teach them what they did with the amount of missions their ANBU squad was sent on. Now if she was the suspicious type she would have thought that the council was doing that on purpose. But why would the do that…

(A.N: for all the dense readers out there, please note the sarcasm it the previous statement)

Sitting in the back of the class Naruto and Isaribi were quietly chatting with each other. Over the years their outfits underwent some changes. They both were now wearing dark green pants and Naruto had on a black t-shirt while Isaribi had a dark brown t-shit and both had black shinobi sandals. They exchanged their cloaks for regular jackets with hoods that they wore over their heads. Naruto's was colored a gunmetal gray while Isaribi's was a dark brown color and at the shoulders of the jackets the leaf symbol of Konoha was attached via a patch.

Naruto also took to wearing a black scarf around his face that covered most of his head below his eyes and neck and had a black headband around his forehead, leaving very little of his face exposed except for the eyes. Isaribi wrapped her face and neck up in bandages to hide her appearance, creating the similar affect as Naruto with only her eyes exposed too. On their hands they both wore black gloves that went up half way to their elbows. The gloves covered their palms, but stopped once they reached their knuckles so that they wouldn't interfere with the little bit of webbing on their hands.

"_Nervous?_" asked Naruto.

"_A little, but we know our stuff, we'll be sure to pass. I just hope we're on the same team_" replied Isaribi.

"_Yea, me too. We work well together and our abilities compliment one another. But they usually don't put the same blood limits together so that if the team is wiped out the blood limit is not lost._"

"_Yea, you're right_" said Isaribi gloomily.

"_But you know how the council hates us, maybe they will force the Hokage to put us on the same team because of that_" said Naruto with a foxy smile, eliciting a small giggle from Isaribi.

Hearing Isaribi giggle behind him, the boy in front of the two turned around and glared at them. It had become common place to hear the two of them talk together in their own language and it annoyed the heck out of the students and teachers. If they didn't understand what was being said they couldn't criticize them of make fun of them for what was said.

"Oi, fish freaks! What are you giggling about behind by head?" he glared.

"Shove off, it's none of your business" said Isaribi, glaring at the boy.

Before he could respond back the teacher came into the room and started the class.

"As you all know, today is the day of the final exam. I hoped you are all prepared and that you will do your best."

Soon the written test was passed out and the class became quiet as they concentrated on the test. The questions were hard and Naruto had trouble on some of them, mainly because he didn't pay attention to the lectures, but he felt that he did reasonably well.

Once the written test was handed in the class went outside for the weapons portion of the exam. The students had to score a cumulative grade point of 50 to pass this test. The bull's eye was worth 10 points, the second ring worth 5 points, the outside ring worth 1 point and no points were awarded if you miss. They were given five kunai and five shuriken to use.

Isaribi went before Naruto and she hit the bull's eye with four kunai and three shuriken, the rest hit the second ring, giving her a total of 85 points. Not to be out done Naruto concentrated hard when it was his turn to go. Launching his kunai and shuriken Naruto hit the bull's eye with four kunai and four shuriken, the last kunai hitting the second ring while his last shuriken missed the target completely, giving him 85 points.

Grinning and rubbing the back of his head Naruto walked up to Isaribi, "Hehe, I missed…damn I really wanted to beat you at this too. I know you did better on the written test then me."

"That's because I actually pay attention in class instead of daydream all the time" said Isaribi with a smile.

Before Naruto could say anything to refute what Isaribi said, the students were called back inside to take the final portion of the test.

Awaiting their names to be called, Naruto and Isaribi chatted about random things until they heard "Mako Isaribi" called out. Whishing her luck as she got up and left, Naruto put his head on the desk and waited for his name to be called. After waiting a half an hour Naruto finally heard "Uzumaki Naruto" called out.

Going inside the room Naruto was faced with three teachers sitting behind a desk full of Konoha headband. Glaring at him one of the teachers said, "Perform the Henge, Kawarimi, and make at least three Bunshin."

Quickly Naruto Henged himself to look like the teacher, Kawarimi with the extra chair in the room, and made three shadow clones. The teachers looked upset, but there was nothing that they could do.

"You pass. Report back tomorrow for your team assignment."

Quickly Naruto grabbed a headband with a black cloth and left the room. Placing it on his head, Naruto happily walked out of the room. Now he was one step closer to gaining the recognition of the people of the village.

Walking outside he saw Isaribi standing there with her headband on her forehead too. Running up to her they gave each other a high five an grind wildly at each other.

The fact that they passed did not go unnoticed by the parents congratulating their kids and they began muttering about how could they be allowed to pass. But they did this quietly as the Hokage was standing right there in the middle of the crowd talking with one of the teachers.

Still standing there, Naruto and Isaribi were surprised when Anko walked up behind them. She was wearing her fishnet and trench coat outfit (she's off duty) and she smiled at the two she said, "You passed! That's great! Come on, I have a special surprise for the both of you at home."

Leading the both of them away Anko ignored the comments from the villagers about the Snake whore and her two pet monsters.

Reaching their apartment Naruto and Isaribi were greeted by Yamato, still in his ANBU armor, minus the mask. Standing up from his chair he congratulated the two of them on passing the exam.

That night they all sat down at the table for a meal of sushi, by request of Naruto and Isaribi, with some dango, for Anko, and pie, for Yamato.

After the meal Anko pulled out two boxes and presented them to Naruto and Isaribi.

"Here you go, a present for passing the exam. Hopefully you will put it to good use."

Opening the boxes up they saw that inside was the gray chest armor worn by the ANBU members.

Looking up the two genin were speechless. "H-how did you get these, only captains can give out the armor to non-members?" asked Isaribi, the first on the regain her voice.

Smiling and glancing at Yamato Anko said, "Well, I happen to know an ANBU captain who also wanted to give you guys a present."

Launching themselves across the table Naruto and Isaribi hugged Anko before doing the same thing to Yamato.

"Thank You! Thank you!" they shouted happily.

XxXxX

The next morning Isaribi and Naruto got dressed and put on their armor over their t-shits. Running to Isaribi, Naruto asked while holding up his arms, "How do I look?"

Isaribi's response was to tackle Naruto to the ground laughing, their noses almost touching. Noticing how they were almost kissing and that they were in a compromising position on the floor, a blush spread across both of their faces, but they didn't move away. In fact, Isaribi moved closer, lying on top of Naruto, still face to face, and their fingers intertwining.

This was the scene Anko walked in on, coming to investigate the nose. Standing in the doorway Anko was speechless for a minute before her voice came back to her, "You're going to be late if you don't hurry up."

As fast as lightning, the two were off of each other, their green faces turning pink from their blushing. Laughing Anko walked back to the living room and was soon joined by Naruto in his jacket and his face wrapped up and headband on his forehead. A minute latter, they were joined by Isaribi, with her bandages, jacket and headband on.

Exiting their apartment and locking up behind them, Anko departed from the two genin, still laughing over what she walked in on while Naruto and Isaribi stood there blushing.

Looking at each other they nodded before heading off to the academy together in silence, each on thinking about what just happened.

Reaching the academy the two sat down in their seats and remained quiet, a blush still on their face.

Seeing his friends quiet and not looking at each other, Lee walked over to the pair and asked, "Hey guys, what's wrong?"

"N-nothings wrong" stammered Isaribi startled by Lee's sudden appearance.

"So whose team do you think you'll be on?" asked Lee trying to beak the ice as he sat down in the third seat in the row.

"We have no idea" said Isaribi and Naruto added, "We hope we'll be on the same team. How about you?"

"Most likely I'll he on Neji's and Tenten's team. He's the top student in out class and Tenten is the top kunoichi in out class. And since I'm the dead last, I will probably be paired with them. That's how these things work" said Lee gloomily. "I can stand Tenten, she takes this job seriously, but Neji has such a stick up his ass. Always going on about fate and such nonsense. It must be something with being from one of the large clans in Konoha. I heard the last Uchiha in the year below us has a stick up his ass just like Neji."

"But I really hope we get Might Guy-san as our sensei. He is a genius when it comes to taijutsu and my personal hero" said Lee with a smile.

"Alright, be quiet" cam a voice from the front of the room, ending the conversation.

"Here are the team assignments…(skipping everyone else)…Team Nine will be Neji, Tenten, and Lee, your sensei will be Might Guy." This announcement brought a cheer from Lee and he pumped his fist in the air.

"Isaribi and Naruto, you two will be placed on an already existing genin team that lost two members, your sensei will be Hyuge Haran. That's it for team placement. Your senseis' will be here momentarily."

As soon as the teacher said this, a man in green spandex walked into the room and called out, "Team 9, follow me!" and Lee quickly followed with a smile on his face, followed by his two, less enthusiastic team mates.

After waiting for a few minutes a Hyuge entered the room and said, "Naruto, Isaribi, follow me."

Quickly following their sensei, Naruto and Isaribi got up and walked out of the room. Making their way to an unused training ground they saw that other team member was sitting by a wooden pole, around 14 years old.

"These are our new team mates? You got to be kidding me, they're barely old enough to hold a kunai" said the boy.

"And when our Neesan was your own age she is in about a jonin in rank" said Naruto looking at the boy.

Instantly going on the defensive the boy said, "It's not my fault! So far I keep on getting paired up with really strong opponents, who all make it chunin. And besides, some people make chunin latter than others."

"That's enough" said Haran. "Why don't we introduce ourselves? I'm Hyuge Haran, member of the main house. I like water and tradition and hate people who go against the flow. I specialize in water attacks in combination with my family arts and I desire to see you survive to the rank of chunin and beyond."

Seeing how Haran was done, the other guy spoke up, "I'm Umino Gin. I like to eat soup and play board games and I hate deserts. I specialize in water and ice jutsus and my dream is to become a powerful Konoha shinobi."

Going next Isaribi said, "My name is Mako Isaribi, I love sushi and hate Orochimaru. I am well rounded but mostly specialize in close combat and underwater warfare and my dream is to be accepted by Konoha."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I love sushi and ramen and I hate Orochimaru. I specialize in underwater combat and bunshins and my dream is to be accepted by Konoha and be seen for who I am, not anything else."

'Well, they turned out interesting. At least they don't hate Konoha' thought Haran before he was interrupted by Gin.

"What do you mean by specializing in bunshins?"

Scratching his head nervously, Naruto said, "Well I can do both Mizu and Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and I can make several hundred clones at a time."

Gin's eyes went wide at this and Haran was startled by the amount.

Regaining his composure Haran said, "Before we start with a mission, I would like you two to show Gin what you really look like. You'll be working closely together so this will avoid any problems latter on."

Glancing at each other, Isaribi and Naruto took off their jackets before removing their head wraps. Seeing their appearance, Gin let out a gasp. But give him credit, he didn't run away in fear.

Seeing that Gin had taken in their appearance and calmed down slightly, Haran said, "Ok you can put those back on. Now normally a new team takes a test to see if they have the appropriate teamwork to become a genin squad. But because Gin already passed and you two are known for your ability to work together we will forgo that part and jump strait into a simple d-rank mission, to retrieve a certain cat."

XxXxX

Jutsu list:

**Water Stream no Jutsu-** sends out a stream of water at the target and by adjusting the amount of chakra used can go from knocking an opponent back to crushing their bones and internal organs.

**Water Blast no Jutsu-** sends a compressed ball of water at the opponent, hitting them with the force of a sledgehammer.

**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu**- water clone no jutsu- made out of water, user gets the memory of the clone once it dispels.

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**- Shadow clone jutsu- made out of chakra, user gets the memory of the clone once it dispels

How did you like it? Please tell me what you think and any suggestions you may have!

Ja ne!


	5. Chapter 5

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own this

-Sorry about any names spelled wrong last chapter…my bad

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Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi: 11

Anko: 21

Yamato: 23

Kakashi: 25

Third Hokage: 69

Gin- 14

Hyuuga Haran- 22

----------------------------

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_- Sounds like shrieks/whistles and clicks, similar to whale songs

----------------------------

_Previously_

Seeing that Gin had taken in their appearance and calmed down slightly, Haran said, "Ok you can put those back on. Now normally a new team takes a test to see if they have the appropriate teamwork to become a genin squad. But because Gin already passed and you two are known for your ability to work together we will forgo that part and jump strait into a simple d-rank mission, to retrieve a certain cat."

----------------------------

_Now_

In the forest within the walls of Konoha, a pair of yellow eyes cautiously looked out from a bush. Looking left and right it saw no sign of its pursuers. Cautiously it steeped outside of the bush when a movement at the corner of its eye caught its attention.

Turning the other way it made a break for it, it was scooped up in the arms of the ninja behind it. "Mission successful" radioed Gin as he came up to Naruto who had the cat.

"Target confirmed, it's the one we are looking for."

"Roger, report back to the Hokage tower" came the reply from Haran over the radio.

Glaring at the fish boy who was holding it, the cat began to scratch mercilessly at his face, causing him to almost fall down and loose his grip on the cat.

Seeing the trouble Naruto was having Isaribi grabbed the cat, but it then turned and scratched her face before Gin picked up the cat by the crook of its neck.

The cat seemed glade that the older boy grabbed it instead of his team mates. Sighing he said, "Come on, let's get this mission over with."

Back at the Hokage tower, the genin met up with Haran who took in the scratched faces of Naruto and Isaribi in and noticed the looks that they were giving the cat nested safely in Gin's arms. Raising his eyebrow he looked questioningly at Gin.

Seeing his sensei's look he said, "Let's just say that cats and them don't mix."

This brought a small smile to Haran's lips as he said, "Not to worry. We will be doing just a few more D rank missions before were back on patrol."

"Back on patrol?" asked Isaribi.

"Yes, since we're a water specialist team, most of the missions we are sent on are patrolling the cost line between the lands of Fire, Water, Waves, and Ocean or taking missions that have some aquatic elements to them. For an example, we may be called upon to carry out an assassination of a mission were there is a river near the targets house. We would use that river to our advantage in getting in and out. But these missions are rare so we spend our time patrolling" Haran said as he led his team into the tower.

"You two will like it when we go out. These types of missions will suite you two perfectly and I'm sure the other water specialty ninjas will be more…accepting of you than the other ninjas."

"There are other teams of water specialists?" asked Naruto.

"Some, but we also work with mercenaries hired by the Fire Lord who run the Fire Navy. Ninjas are too much invested in close combat to be good sailors, but we can aid ships in navel battles when the ships get close or we can go accost the water and attack the ships directly or lay in wait and spring traps on the ships."

"In modern warfare navel ships are mainly used as transports of goods and personnel. So by sinking a ship we can cut off enemy supplies and reinforcements. And it doesn't matter if the ninjas can walk on water, when you're in the middle of the ocean you will not have enough energy to make it to shore. So if you sink a ship full of ninjas, most of those ninjas will drown like an ordinary civilian" said Haran, finishing his lecture just as they made it to the mission room.

"Team Haran successfully completing D-ranked mission, the retrieval of the Dynamo's cat" said Haran as he entered the room and as Gin handed the cat off to be tortured, I mean, hugged by its owner.

"Good, good" said the Hokage. "And how was your team's performance?"

"They completed the mission professionally and quickly, but I would still like some more training and a few more D-ranked missions before we head back out to the border" said Haran, understanding the Hokage's hidden message about wanting his team back out on the border.

"Yes, I understand. But remember we are limited in the amount of qualified water specialists and your team composes some of the most promising" said the Hokage.

"Understood sir. We will be ready in two weeks time."

This statement brought a smile to the Hokage's face. "Good, you're dismissed."

Exiting Haran tuned to his team, "You heard what I said in there. We have two weeks to get up to shape. Let's go."

XxXxX

For the next two weeks team Haran trained constantly, only taking breaks for a few D-rank missions. During the two weeks they worked on their team work and strategies to use when fighting. Naruto and Isaribi will scout out ahead and attack from underwater using clones and water jutsus while Gin attacks from the distance using water and ice jutsus and weapons. And if the situation called for it, Haran will step in and finish it off at close range with his jyuuken. They also learned two jutsus that were essential to this strategy.

The first one was called Monsoon no Jutsu, this jutsu created a downpour that made it almost impossible to see when caught in it. This was an essential part of Haran's strategy because he will cast this jutsu then move in with his byakugan activated so he could see just fine and kill the enemy.

Gin wore a pair of goggles so that would help him see in the rain by keeping the water out of his eyes and Naruto and Isaribi's eyes weren't affected by water getting in them.

And with Naruto's massive chakra reserve, he could make the jutsu cover a large area and have it last for a long time

The second jutsu wasn't so much a jutsu as it was a chakra exercise that required similar skills as the tree climbing exercise. This exercise involved coating the end of a kunai in chakra so that it could travel underwater like a torpedo. Very effective, and when used with waterproof explosive tags, this technique could sink enemy ships with ease.

Soon the day came that they set out for their fist C-rank mission. They were to meet their team at the gates to Konoha at 9:30 and from there they will set out to the coast. It would be a four day trip to the coast of the Land of Fire from Konoha, and their patrol was scheduled to last a month.

Getting up at eight, Naruto rolled over in his bed and looked across the room. There, lying in her bed, still asleep, was Isaribi. They still shared a room since the apartment they lived in with Anko was small, but as of late things had started to get…uncomfortable.

Quietly he got up and quickly changed into his mission cloths, but just as he was about to turn around he was tackled from behind and they both fell back onto the floor.

"Hehe, I was wondering when you were going to get up. I've been up for half an hour already" said Isaribi, fully dreaded in her mission clothes and clinging to Naruto's back.

"Isaribi-chan…could you get off me please?" asked Naruto.

"But Naru-kun, don't you like me in this position?" she said moving her mouth close to his ear, causing a shiver to go up his spine. "Or would you rather be the one in the back?"

Blushing Naruto responded, "You've been reading Anko's books, haven't you?"

"Which books are you talking about Naruto-kun?" asked Isaribi in a playful tone of voice.

"You know which books I'm talking about. The ones with the orange covers" said Naruto craning his neck back to look at Isaribi.

"Oh, you mean the ones that she caught you reading?" laughed Isaribi.

"S-she told about that!?" stuttered Naruto.

Laughing Isaribi tightened her hold on Naruto, "No, I overheard her yelling at you, so of course I had to see what it was about. I especially liked page 23, haha!"

Blushing, Naruto tried to change the subject, "You ready for the mission today?"

"Yes, you know that. I've been prepared just as long as you have. We packed together, remember" said Isaribi with a sigh.

"I meant mentally, are you ready?" asked Naruto.

"Why? Are you concerned for me? That's so sweet!" said Isaribi with a cry as she clutched Naruto even tighter. "Come on, let's eat some breakfast and get to the gate" she said as she let go of Naruto and raced towards the kitchen.

Sprawled out on the floor Naruto smiled and shook his head before he too when to the kitchen, at a much slower pace.

Breakfast was a simple affair consisting of some toast and fruit. Anko was away on yet another mission, so they left a note on the table telling her that they were on a mission and that they were scheduled to be back in a month.

Wrapping their faces up, putting on their cloaks, and grabbing their waterproof storage scrolls that they can carry on their back, the two exited the apartment and made it to the gate with time to spare.

Gin was already there with his goggles on and a storage scroll tide to his back. Seeing the two approaching he waved and called out, "Ready for your first real mission?"

"You bet 'cha!" cried Naruto pumping his fist into the air.

"Just remember the Kiri-nin can be ruthless so watch your selves. The especially hate blood-limits" Gin said waving his finger with a smile, clearly enjoying the reaction he got from Naruto's eyes.

"That was mean Gin" glared Isaribi.

Seeing Isaribi's reaction, Gin couldn't keep it in any longer and began to laugh. "Hahaha, I'm sorry, hahaha! It was, ha, a joke. Man, you too took that one so personally…"

"But he was right in a way" said Haran, who suddenly appeared next to his team. "Kirigakure is well known for its bias against blood-limits and for their brutality, so we must be careful."

Looking over his team he continued, "You all ready?" Seeing them node their heads, he said, "Then lets go, we have a ways to go before we reach the ocean."

With that Team Haran set out from Konoha and headed east towards the ocean.

The journey to the coast was uneventful and they safely made it to the coast. From the coast they moved north stopping only for a short lunch. By around three o'clock they reached their destination, the main naval base for the Land of Fire.

The entire complex was located within the mountain overlooking the ocean and was full of sailors hired by the Fire Lord and Konoha-nins who specialize in water warfare.

Within the vast cavern that made up the docs, ships off all class and size could be seen.

Some were tall man-of-war sailing ships with rows of crossbow and kunai launchers. Others were small engine powered speed boats with torpedo tubes on the sides and others were bulky transport vessels. But the most common vessel was the patrol boats.

These boats had an engine but also had a sail for wind power. On the front there was a kunai launcher and it carried four torpedoes, but the main purpose of the boat was to get its crew into close combat range. That's because, unlike the other boats, this boat was specifically designed for a team of Konoha shinobi to use while on patrol.

Passing through the checkpoints, Team Haran entered the base and Naruto and Isaribi paused. Never before had they seen so many boats in one area before and they were amazed.

Turning around, Gin and Haran noticed that Naruto and Isaribi were staring at the sight in front of them. "Come on, can't spend the entire day gaping at the scene" said Haran with a smile. "We have to check in with the dock master to get our boat and exact patrol area."

Silently nodding, the two fell into step behind the rest of their team. The ninjas they passed recognized who Naruto and Isaribi were and mostly just ignored them, with a few of them glaring at them. The sailors, on the other hand, looked at the two curiously.

Naruto and Isaribi were easily the youngest people there and while most ninjas were younger due to the life expectancy and training requirements of the job, it was unusual to see two eleven year old ninjas.

Entering the office of the dock master and passing his ANBU guards, they were met with a ninja in his early to mid thirties with a scar running down from his right eye, across his nose and mouth, before it runs back up to his left ear.

"Team Haran, reporting in for patrol mission" said Haran as he gave the man their mission scroll.

Looking over the scroll, then looking at a scroll on his desk before looking up at the team in front of him he said, "Patrol boat 569 is available. Take that one and patrol grid 8 through grid 10. I'll give you one day to take on the appropriate supplies for the boat."

Jotting something down on a piece of paper in front of him he continued talking, "The water purification system is in working order, so that shouldn't be a problem for you and the area is rich in fish, so the standard rations should be enough to last you the month's trip."

Handing Haran the paper he was just writing on he finished, "Take this to the quartermaster, he will set you up with the boat and supplies. Dismissed."

Saluting, the team left the office and made their way to the docks.

The quartermaster was a civilian male around forty years old with a great big brown beard, darker skin and was bulging with muscles. He resembled a bear more than a human male and he spoke in a deep gruff voice.

"So, this it the lot that will be taking 569 out? Don't look like much" he said looking over the genin. "They stick you on babysitting duties Haran? Suck for you, hahaha!"

"No Chris, these two are the replacements for Rei and Shinji" said Haran in a monotone voice.

"Oh, sorry to hear about them, by the way, it's a shame that they won't be able to be ninjas for a while at least, until they recover that is, but at least they survived that test they put you ninjas through" said Chris, slapping Haran on the back.

"Yes, thank you for your concern. But it will be years before they are healed enough for active duty beyond simple D-rank missions and guard duties, but most likely they will never be ninjas again. But you might see them again. I heard Rei talking about joining the navy and Shinji was thinking about that too" said Haran looking at Chris.

"Glad to hear that, glad to here that. Always looking for experience sailors to help out around here" said Chris with a smile.

"Now lets see what you need…The ship is fueled and ready to go, all you need to do is load the extra weapons and supplies onboard. Use the stuff in storage shed three. Three number 5 crates and one number 6 crate should be enough for a one month patrol. Wish I could stay and help, but that big man-of-war over yonder is setting out in a few days and I need to see to it that the idiots here don't screw up. Tell you what, when you get back we'll have a toast to celebrate a job well done" said Chris with a smile and another pat on Haran's back before he left.

"He seams nice" said Isaribi with a smile.

"He is. It's just that he needs to learn personal space" said Haran as he straitened out his vest.

"Don't deny it, you consider him a friend" said Gin smiling.

"I never denied that, it's just that it's improper for a member of the Hyuuga clan to behave and be treated like that."

XxXxX

The team spent the rest of the day preparing the boat for departure with Haran going over procedures and technical data about boats and seamanship in general to Naruto and Isaribi with Gin listening in every now and then.

The morning they were set to depart they were the only ship scheduled to leave. Checking over everything one last time, Haran turned to Naruto and Isaribi, "Remember, you two will be swimming in front of the boat as scouts and Gin will be on the kunai launcher. It's time for us to depart, so, into the water with you. You can leave your storage scrolls and cloaks below deck."

Rumor had spread around the base about the true nature of Naruto and Isaribi, so there were many sailors and ninjas watching from the docks. When Isaribi emerged from below deck followed by Naruto, both wearing only their waterproof pants, shirts, and protective vests (shoes and gloves were left inside with their cloaks and other items) a murmur spread through out the base.

Ignoring the whispers and the stares they both dived into the water and headed to the dock exit. With a sputter, the boat started up followed Naruto and Isaribi out of the dock and into the open waters of the sea.

By noon they reached the area where they were scheduled to patrol. Meeting up with the patrol boat that was in the area they were assigned to, they gave them the mission scroll that signified that they were their relief team.

Gratefully, they handed over the area to team Haran, but they did warn them that there were pirates active in the area near grid 10 and 11 so they might see some combat on this mission.

That night, Naruto and Isaribi came back to the ship for dinner, each with two fish that they caught. Without even cooking the fish, Naruto and Isaribi ate the fish before eating some of the rations to give themselves a stable diet.

Seeing them eat the fish raw, Gin looked at them incredulously, "You know, it's not good for you to eat raw meat like that."

"For you it may be," said Naruto. "But for me and Isaribi-chan, we can eat fish raw and drink sea water with no ill side effects due to our…abilities."

"Oh…that's convenient" said Gin uncomfortably. For as long as he has known the two, they haven't talked about their blood limit. In fact, ever since the first day he hadn't seen the two without their usual coverings for an extended period of time. But now that their on the boat they kept their outer clothes off.

Quickly cooking his and Haran's fish, Gin ate quietly and Isaribi took Haran's fish to him at the command deck.

Joining his team after letting the anchor down, Haran ate his meal in silence before he spoke. "We have a month to cover these three grid sections" he said as he pointed to the map at the center of the table. "We can't let our guard down at night because that's when someone would most likely try to seek across the boarder. As you can see we are at the border between the Land of Water, the Land of Waves, and the Land of Fire. There are repots of pirates active near here, so our secondary objective is to wipe them out."

"We will take turns monitoring the area four shifts, each 6 house long. You will patrol for two shifts, on the next shift you will train on the back deck or make repairs to the boat, and the last shift is when you will rest. You can eat when you finish training, half way through your patrol time period and when you get up. At six every night, we will meet as a team to go over anything that happened during the day that everyone needs to know about."

"Gin, I want you to continue working on making your ice torpedo jutsu, Naruto and Isaribi, I want you both to work on using your sonar in a sound based attacks. I have scrolls for all of you that you can look at if you need references and help figuring out something" said Haran looking at the genin.

"The order for the resting periods is as follows. "First it's Isaribi, then Gin, then Naruto, and finally me. This way we will always have one person on the boat on patrol and one in the water on patrol. Ok, now, Isaribi, get to bed, Gin go train, Naruto get in the water, and I will get to the command deck. Set radios to frequency 105.7. Ok? Dismissed!"

Quietly the team departed, each going about their assigned tasks. A splash was heard as Naruto jumped back into the water and Isaribi made her way to the bunks. Gin sat down on the back deck and pulled out a scroll with notes about ice jutsus. Up on the command deck, Haran gave a small smile, 'It's good to be back on patrol.'

XxXxX

The first two weeks passed without a single incident except for the occasional stopping of ships to see were they were going and the check to make sure they weren't smuggling illegal cargo. But on the 16th day of patrol the encountered the pirate ship.

Naruto Just handed off patrol in the water to Isaribi when the ship was spotted on the horizon. Quickly everyone took their stations and Naruto and Isaribi were sent out to see who the ship was.

As they got closer they noticed two things. One, the ship was heavily armed, and two, it was heading in their direction. Radioing Haran they reported the condition of the ship.

"Haran-sensei, the ship is heavily armed and is heading our way…It's the pirate ship. What should we do?" asked Isaribi over the radio.

"We'll stick with the plan. Isaribi and Naruto you will attack from below and we will over you with range attacks."

Taking two kunai each with underwater explosive tags and applied chakra to them, Naruto and Isaribi sent them like torpedoes at the underside of the ship.

From the patrol boat they saw the pirate ship rock from underwater explosions and begin to tilt to one side as the kunai exploded against its hull.

Gin then aimed the kunai launcher at the boat and sent a volley of a dozen kunai at the ship. Next to him, Haran flashed through some hand seals, "**Kage Kunai no Jutsu!**" and the dozen kunai turned into a hundred kunai, killing the pirates on the top deck.

From under water Naruto and Isaribi raced up and in a burst of fury they slammed through the openings in the hull. Isaribi moved towards the stunned pirates trying to plug the holes and slashed them with her kunai. Naruto breathed in and released a Water Blast no Jutsu, snapping the neck of the pirate on the stairs to the upper level and demolishing the stairs in the process.

Pulling out two more kunai, Naruto and Isaribi both made a dozen Mizu Bunshins and in a short time cleared the lower deck of pirates. Then they laid explosive tags at key points in the hull and set them off.

The already sinking ship shuddered from the explosion and split in half before it sank to the bottom of the sea. The attack happened so suddenly that most of the pirates had no time to react and most of them drowned. The ones that did survive were executed by Haran as they pulled them from the ocean. Like missing nins, no quarter is given to pirates and bandits.

Coming back to the boat, Naruto and Isaribi were met by Haran on the back deck. "Good job you two. You were able to take down that ship quickly and effectively. I don't think that even I would be able to take down a ship that size without some problems."

"Thank you Haran-sensei" said Isaribi strained smiling.

"Thanks" said Naruto.

"I want you two to go back down to the wreckage and see if there is anything that is salvageable. Look for barrels of goods, weapons, or anything else. We will be searching through the wreckage drifting at the surface for salvageable goods while you're at it" said Haran as he returned to the command deck.

Diving back underwater Naruto and Isaribi made their way to the sinking ship.

"_You ok_" asked Naruto.

"_Just a little shaken up. You know, first kill and all_" said Isaribi with a small smile.

Stopping their decent Naruto embraced Isaribi in a hug, "_It's ok, it was pirates that we attacked. They would have killed innocent people if we let them_" he said trying to comfort her.

"_I know, I know_" said Isaribi with a sigh. After a few minuets of just floating there in Naruto's embrace Isaribi pushed herself away. "_I'm ok now. Let's get going._"

Making their way to the ocean floor, they saw that the wreckage of the pirate ship was spread out over a mile stretch of the ocean floor.

Looking through the wreckage they found crates of weapons and chemicals that were still unopened along with money and some other goods. Grabbing the chemicals they brought it to the surface. But when they got there they were surprised by what they saw.

Sitting along side the patrol boat the man-of-war they saw at the docks.

"Um, sensei, what are they doing here?" asked Naruto motioning to the man-or-war.

"There here to help up us in the recovery operation. Apparently that pirate ship was giving the navy a lot of problems and even hit some navy transports. Did you find anything salvageable?"

"There are weapons, goods, money, and some chemicals that can all be salvaged" said Isaribi. "We brought up the chemicals first" she said, gesturing to the crates she and Naruto had in tow, "but there is lots more down there."

"Continue with your recovery efforts, but take the goods to them" said Haran with a nod to the man-of-war.

Diving back underwater, Naruto and Isaribi spent the rest of the day and late into the night bringing items from the bottom of the sea up to the awaiting ships. At first the crew of the war ship was startled by Naruto's and Isaribi's appearance, but they quickly got over it as they proved how useful they could be.

By the time they were done, they were both dead tired and they dragged themselves into the mess room on the patrol ship.

Sitting at the table they were quietly eating some rations when Haran entered with the captain and some of the crew of the man-of-war.

Seeing them almost falling over with exhaustion, Haran said, "Good job you two. Get to bed now, we're taking tomorrow off so feel free to sleep in."

Gratefully they both moved off to the bunks, falling into the bottom bunk and falling asleep almost immediately, not even realizing they were both sharing the same bunk.

"Interesting pair you have there" said the captain of the ship.

"Yes they are. It was because of them that the ship sank so suddenly. Without them that battle could have ended very differently" said Haran.

"I would say so. From our repots about there was a couple of missing-nins of varying levels onboard that ship" said the captain with a huff. "But it proves that you ninja, despite your fighting abilities, can still drown like a normal human, haha!"

Taking a sip of his drink and ignoring the captain's comet, Haran changed the subject, "What were those chemicals that were found on the ship?"

"Those? They are fertilizers and other chemicals. When mixed together they can be made into extremely powerful explosives. It was a good thing that they weren't able to turn them into weapons" said the captain taking a drink from his cup.

"Well we've better head back to our ship" said the captain standing up. "Don't worry about patrolling tomorrow. We'll stay in the area till tomorrow night to give your team a break." Nodding his head as he exited he said, "Well, good night now."

Finishing his drink, Haran went to the bunks to sleep. Entering he saw Gin asleep in the top bunk and Naruto and Isaribi both asleep on the same bottom bunk. Smiling he moved to the middle bunk before he too fell asleep.

XxXxX

The next morning Haran and Gin were up first and were eating breakfast when Gin asked, "Should we get them up?" as he motioned to were Naruto and Isaribi were still asleep.

"No, let them sleep. They've earned it. Let's see you spend the entire day dragging salvage up from the ocean floor and not want to sleep like that for a few days. Besides," Haran said with a smile, "they look cute like that."

Looking over at the bottom bunk, Gin saw what Haran was looking at. There was Naruto on his back with Isaribi using his chest as a pillow. Naruto's right arm was around her waist and her left arm as under his head.

"There reaction is going to be priceless when they finally do wake up" said Gin with a smile. Turning to Haran he asked, "You have a camera?"

"I already got the pictures when they were straddling each other…along with a picture of you picking your nose on your sleep" said Haran with a smirk.

"Hey! That's a low blow!" cried Gin.

"Quiet down, you'll wake them up" said Haran taking a sip of his drink.

When Naruto and Isaribi finally did wake up that morning, they didn't freak out as Gin hoped. Rather all they did was blush, looked away from each other, and then treated the whole situation as something normal.

Gin was disappointed, he was hoping for a hilariously embarrassing scene between the two, but the way they woke up, it was like they were used to sleeping with each other like that. But that just crazy…right?

Soon things went back to normal and the patrolling schedule returned. Before long their time at sea came to an end and they were relieved by another patrol boat.

Sailing the ship back into port both Naruto and Isaribi were in the water to help guide the boat into dock so that a tugboat would not be needed.

Climbing out of the water onto the shore they were once again the center of attention due to their appearance. But the people of the Fire Navy and the Water Konoha-nins heard what they did to the pirate vessel and no longer looked at the two with such disgusted and anger.

Reporting in with the dock master, Naruto and Isaribi were once again covered in their wraps, gloves, coats, and sandals. Haran summed up what went on during the patrol and soon they set out again, this time to head back to Konoha.

XxXxX

**Monsoon no Jutsu**- Causes water to rain down on an area. The more chakra used the heaver the rain fall is and the larger the area affected.

**Kage Kunai no Jutsu**- creates shadow clones of kunai thrown. The more chakra used, the more kunai created.

Hoped you like it. This is the longest chapter I've ever written.

Happy holidays people and please tell me what you thing!

Ja ne!


	6. Chapter 6

Foxfish

Disclaimer- Don't own this

Thanks to Narutomaniac a mistake I made in the last chapter is now apparent. I said Kage Kunai no Jutsu, but in reality I meant Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Sorry, my bad…

----------------------------

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi: 11

Anko: 21

Yamato: 23

Kakashi: 25

Third Hokage: 69

Gin- 14

Hyuuga Haran- 22

----------------------------

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_- Sounds like shrieks/whistles and clicks, similar to whale songs

----------------------------

_Previously_

Reporting in with the dock master, Naruto and Isaribi were once again covered in their wraps, gloves, coats, and sandals. Haran summed up what went on during the patrol and soon they set out again, this time to head back to Konoha.

----------------------------

_Now_

After a few days travel the walls of Konoha came back into view to the relief of the weary team.

Showing the gate guards their passes the team entered the village and stopped as Haran turned around. "Ok, I will deliver our mission report to Hokage-sama. You have the next two days off and we will meet at training ground 21 at 0900 hours in three days. Good job and dismissed."

Quickly the group split up with Haran going off to the tower and Gin went off to his apartment. Naruto and Isaribi exchanged looks before they too went off to the apartment they share with Anko.

Reaching the apartment they entered to find that the apartment was empty. Anko was still on duty or away on a mission.

Taking off their outer clothes and armor they plopped themselves down on the couch and let out a sigh.

"Well, now it's time to relax" said Naruto with a smile as he glanced over to Isaribi.

"Shut up, I'm tired and I'm going to sleep" said Isaribi in a sleepy voice next to him on the couch as she leaned against him. "Don't you dare move."

Soon after she said this Isaribi was out like a light and Naruto soon followed her into sleep.

It was sometime later that Naruto woke up to the quiet apartment. The sun was still out, but it would be setting soon. Carefully moving his body, Naruto was able to get out from under Isaribi without disturbing her.

Stretching Naruto looked around the apartment. Anko hadn't come back yet, but there was no note saying that she was away on a mission.

Moving to the kitchen, Naruto scrounged around to see what there was to eat. In the fridge there was the usual dango, saki, and random pieces of other foods that were there, but it wasn't anything that he felt like eating. Going to the cabinet by the fridge, Naruto saw what he was looking for. There in the cupboard was an unopened instant cup of ramen.

Quickly Naruto boiled some water and then waited the three agonizing minutes for the ramen to be done.

Quickly adding the beef flavor to the ramen Naruto stirred it around a little before he began to eat the noodles at an accelerated rate. He was just starting to drink the broth when the door to the apartment slammed up.

In walked in Anko, not dressed in her ANBU armor, but in her fishnet and trench coat outfit, under her right arm was a box of dango and in her left hand was a half empty bottle of saki. Following close behind her was Yamato in his jonin outfit.

Seeing Naruto at the table she called out in a drunken voice, "Hhhey Naru-chan! You're back! Where's Isari-channn?"

The commotion caused by Anko's entrance woke Isaribi up and she sat up on the couch.

"TTThere you are!" cried the drunken Anko.

"You're drunk" stated Isaribi in a blunt tone.

"Damn right!" cried Anko, dropping the dango and pumping her fist into the air.

"Why?" asked Isaribi curiously.

"She just had her last day of being in the ANBU. Now she is a special jonin in rank" said Yamato in a tired tone of voice.

"Why did she leave?" asked Naruto from the kitchen table.

"I got ttttired of it" drawled out Anko looking back at Naruto before she stumbled and fell down on the floor.

"She left this morning and been celebrating all day long" said an exasperated Yamato.

"That sucks for you" deadpanned Isaribi coming off the couch. "Is she dead?" she said as she poked Anko's body.

"No, that is what drinking and parting all day does to you" muttered Yamato. "Help me get her to her bed."

With Anko tucked away in bed, Yamato bid the two goodnight.

Going back to the coach, Naruto and Isaribi sat down and let out and exasperated sigh.

"At least she didn't throw up this time" said Naruto, looking at Isaribi.

Huffing she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Still, to come home completely wasted like that, and right after we get back from out first C-rank mission. I mean, come on. She should have known that we were coming back today..."

"You wanted a welcome home surprise?" asked Naruto with a slight smile as he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Well…was a simple good job from her too much to ask for?" said Isaribi looking down at her hands.

"Then I guess we will go out to eat!" said Naruto with a foxy smile as he got up from the couch.

Pulling Isaribi off the couch he said, "Come on, there is a great sushi bar that is still open that servers the best sushi in town."

Returning Naruto's smile she said, "Let's go!"

XxXxX

Arriving at one of the few sushi bars in Konoha, and the only that would server the two any edible food, they sat down and waited for their orders to be taken. A few people in the restaurant sneered when they saw the two but otherwise they left them alone.

"What can I get for you two today?" asked the chef as he approached the two from the other side of the counter.

Looking at Isaribi and seeing her give him a small nod Naruto said, "I'll have a plate of tekka-maki, and you'll have…"

"And I'll have a plate of nigiri-sushi please" said Isaribi looking up at the chef.

"Ok, coming right up" the chef said as he got to work preparing their orders.

"_Happy now?_" asked Naruto looking to his left at Isaribi.

"_Very much, thank you_" said Isaribi, giving Naruto a cheeky smile. "_And I'll be even happier when you pay._"

"_You're mean, you know that, right?_" said Naruto looking at Isaribi with a tick mark forming on his head.

"_Yea, I learned from the best_" smiled Isaribi.

"_Anko or Yamato?_"

"_Both, I think…_" said Isaribi, holding her chin as if in deep though.

"Whatever, foods here" said Naruto, shaking his head as the chef came back with their food.

Quickly the two happily dug into their food and after they were finished with their food they paid the chef and left the sushi bar.

Looking out at the village at knight, the two leisurely walked back to their apartment in silence.

Quietly entering the apartment they heard no sound of Anko getting up so they quietly snuck to their room. As they were passing Anko's room they looked in on her.

She was sprawled out across her bed, drooling slightly. Clutched tightly in her grasp was a worn out purple and green stuffed animal of a snake.

Suppressing their laughter they made their way to their room and shut the door. Once the door was closed, they broke out in laughter until tears came out of their eyes.

"That was so funny!" laughed Isaribi.

"I know I can't believe she still has that thing" said Naruto, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Didn't Yamato-san give that to her a couple of years ago?"

"Yea" said Isaribi as she let out a yawn. "It's late and I'm tired, let's get to sleep."

Going behind the separating screen, Naruto changed into a gray pajama bottom and an orange t-shirt and Isaribi changed into a nightshirt that extended down to her knees.

Getting into his bed, Naruto was about to say goodnight but he felt his bed sag down and felt a person get into it. Turning around he looked at Isaribi as was about to ask her what she was doing when she spoke up.

"Night Naruto-kun" she said as she put an arm around his shoulder.

Stunned Naruto was able to mutter out a mumbled, "Night."

Isaribi was able to fall asleep quickly, but Naruto stayed awake for a few hours before he too fell asleep. Right as his eyes closed he swore he heard a malevolent laughter deep within his mind.

The next morning, Naruto woke up to the sounds of someone cursing in the kitchen, followed by a thud against the table. Sitting up in bed, he noticed that Isaribi was still asleep so he, as gently as possible, wormed his way off the bed before going to the door.

Pressing his ear against the door and listening he heard Anko's voice in the kitchen followed by another groan.

Quickly exiting the room and closing the door behind him, Naruto made his way to the kitchen, and to the hopefully now sober Anko.

Peering around the corner he saw Anko sitting at the kitchen table with her head resting on her hands. In front of her were a cup of coffee and an open box of Advil.

Letting out another moan, she lifted her head and looked at Naruto standing in the hallway. "Hey squirt," she said in a raspy voice as she motioned to the chair across from her, "take a seat."

Once Naruto was seated, she seamed to regain some of her composure, "So, how was your mission?"

"Long and mostly boring" said Naruto with a wave of his hand before be broke out into a grin. "But we did sink a pirate ship!"

Naruto then went into a longwinded and slightly exaggerated retelling of the events leading up to, during, and after the sinking of the pirate ship. For nearly twenty minuets he talked non stop and when he was finished he was slightly out of breath.

Looking at Naruto inquisitively the now sober Anko said, "Is what he said true, Isaribi?"

The said girl moved out from the place in the hallway where she was standing and moved to the empty seat to the right of Anko. "Yea, it pretty much happened that way. Though, Naruto, I think you could have left out the sound effects" said Isaribi glancing at Naruto.

"Hehe, my bad" said Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"So, what about this jutsu that you two been developing?" asked Anko looking at the two.

Naruto was about to open his mouth to begin another longwinded explanation when Isaribi cut him off, "It's done by mixing our sonar and chakra together to make a sound based attack."

"Yea, yea! So far all we got was a really annoying sound that can daze an opponent for a little bit, but it still needs work" added Naruto excitedly from his seat.

"So, Anko-san," said Isaribi looking intensively at Anko. "What was that about you leaving the ANBU?"

Smiling Anko took a sip of her coffee before she said, "Well, I was getting tired of the black ops and decided to do something else. I am now a Special Jonin in the Torture and Interrogation Department!"

"Oh, isn't that the department you've been doing some work in with, what's his name… Ibiki-san?" asked Naruto, scrunching up his face in concentration.

"Yep that's the one. And the best part of this is that this new position comes with a pay raise!" cheered a smiling Anko. "Do you know what that means?"

"We'll get a bigger bathtub?" asked a hopeful Isaribi.

"No, even better…Come on, you still got two more guesses."

"You'll buy lots of dango?" asked Naruto.

"You'll start your own saki production facility?" asked Isaribi.

"Nope, although they were all excellent ideas and made me reconsider what I have planed, the reality is that I got us a new apartment!" cheered Anko. "This old place is way two small for three people and you two aren't as little as you once were so I figured that the best way to spend the pay raise it to get a more livable apartment. And now that you two will be bringing in the money from missions, we won't be so strapped for cash like we've been."

"So, when do we move?" asked an excited Naruto.

"Well, now that you mentioned it, since you have the next couple of days off and all, I figured that we would be moving this afternoon. So break out the scrolls and let's get sealing!" cheered Anko as she rose from the table.

The group spent the rest of the morning grabbing everything that they were taking and placing it into different sealing scrolls. In the end they ended up with twenty three scrolls full of all their clothes, furniture, food, equipment, and other items that they had in their apartment.

By the time lunch rolled around they were all dusty and hungry, but the apartment was finally all packed away. Pulling out three backpacks, Anko quickly split the scrolls up in them and gave one to each person in the apartment.

"Our new apartment is just a few blocks away, but it's bigger than this place. How about we go there and drop off our things before getting some lunch. Sound good?" said Anko with a smile and was greeted with a "Yea!" and "Alright!"

The three quickly made their way to the new apartment, and to say that it was bigger from their old apartment was an understatement. In was located on the first floor of the apartment building and from the sliding door in the back it was only a few steeps and down a small hill to a large lake that was located in Konoha with a small island in the center.

The apartment itself was all located on one floor with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom and bathroom were located to the right as you walked in and to the left were the kitchen and the living room with the sliding door.

The other two bedrooms were located next to each other beyond the kitchen/living room and the other bathroom was just to the left of the rooms at the end of the hallway.

There was already a kitchen table, four chairs, a couch, a stove, and a microwave in the apartment as well as some shelves, but beyond that the apartment was completely empty with off white colored walls.

Throwing her bag onto the couch Anko turned to Isaribi and Naruto and smiling said, "So, what do ya think?"

"It's big" commented a stunned Isaribi.

"I LOVE IT!" shouted an excited Naruto as he pushed passed the two girls to look around the apartment followed at a more sedated pace by Isaribi and Anko.

"This bath tub is huge!" shouted Naruto from the master bathroom, "and there's a mirror on the ceiling in the bedroom."

"Naruto, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" screamed Anko as she dragged him by his collar out of the room. "Now let's get something to eat…"

XxXxX

Before they even knew it, their short break was over and all three of them when back to their shinobi duties. Anko started off her duties as a Special Jonin by working closely with Ibiki while also going on missions where her unique talents could be put to good use.

Naruto and Isaribi went back to training with their team, going on some D-rank missions before going on patrol again or taking the occasional escort mission.

Before they even knew it a year passed by and they were all another year older. While Naruto and Isaribi still haven't participated in a chunin exam yet, Gin was able to take it with another team that needed a third member and was finally successful in gaining the rank of chunin.

Since Gin was now a chunin, Haran left most of the team leadership up to him and went off to perform missions by himself. He would occasionally stop by to help them out in their training or on a mission, but most of the time it was just the three of them.

Today was one of the team's training/relaxation days since they had just gotten back from another patrol mission. Gin was sitting under a tree reading a scroll Haran procured for him about the jonin exams and Naruto and Isaribi were currently drifting in the waters by the shore.

Looking up at his two teammates Gin said, "Did you two hear about the rooky genin this year?"

Getting out of the water Isaribi followed by Naruto made their way the Gin and sat under the tree next to him.

"No, what about them?" asked Isaribi.

"Well supposedly they're supposed to be hot shit or something. It seams like a lot of them are the future clan heads of the main Konoha clans and their supposed to be full of prodigies. Like the last Uchiha genius, the Nara genius, the Aburame genius, as well as a Haruno girl with near perfect chakra control. The other genin are all pretty good too each with their own ability. All and all, every major clan in Konoha is represented" said Gin leaning back against the tree.

Whistling, Naruto said, "That's a lot to live up to. Good thing we're stuck with a laze ass slob like you" he said as he nudged Gin in the ribs.

"Hey! Don't talk to your team leader like that!" said Gin in a fake hurt voice.

"So what brought that up?" asked Isaribi looking over at to two boys.

"I just thought that you might be interested since they are your age" shrugged Gin.

"O yea…I completely forgot they were our age" laughed Naruto, "well, we were never really friends with them in the first place."

"So, what are their teams?" asked Isaribi.

"Well, they recreated the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi team for team ten. Team 7 has the Last Uchiha, a Haruno girl, and a Inuzuka. And team 8 has the Hyuuga heir, an Aburame, and some other kid who does attacks with ink creations, ex-root from what I heard" said Gin stoking his chin.

"Ex-root? On a genin team?" said Naruto incredulously.

"Yea, don't ask me how that happened. Hokage-sama probably wanted to reintegrate him with people his own age and Team 8 sensei is a genjutsu master, so she should be able to understand him better than anyone else. Psychology stuff, you know? I've heard how messed up those root guys are even after that organization was shut down for a second time. All loyal to with Danzo and with his executed..." said Gin.

"Yea, I remember that a lot of those root guys went crazy and had to be stopped" said Isaribi. "Anko-chan told us about that when she was still in the ANBU."

"Well he can't be too messed up. It was shut down years ago" said Naruto cocking his head.

"Yea, but…" Isaribi was saying before they were interrupted by a chunin popping in front of them in a puff of smoke.

"Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately in his office" said the chunin before poofing away.

"Well, we better not keep Hokage-sama waiting. You can wrap up on the walk there" said Gin as he got up followed by Naruto and Isaribi who were putting on their coats and wraps as they walked.

Reaching the Hokage's Tower in a few minutes, Gin knocked on the door and entered when he heard the Hokage call out, "Enter."

Entering the room they saw Sarutobi sitting behind his desk with his pipe in his mouth and off to the side in front of the desk was Haran.

Looking up as the entered, Sarutobi said, "Ah, glad you could get here so fast. Sorry for disturbing you on your day off, but some urgent matters have come up."

Taking a drag from his pipe the Hokage continued, "Gin-kun, at what skill level would you put your teammates at?"

Looking at Naruto and Isaribi for a moment and thinking quietly, Gin said, "I would put them both at mid chunin level. Isaribi has better control than Naruto and thinks things through a little bit more, but Naruto is ahead of her with shear power and is more of a creative thinker than her. Skill wise their almost equal with Naruto just a little bit better at close range combat than Isaribi…Sir, if I may, why are you asking me this?"

"I wanted your opinion on their skills before I sent them out on a mission. Thank you Gin-kun, you may leave now" said Sarutobi with a smile.

Bowing to the Hokage, Gin left the room, giving Isaribi and Naruto a concerned look out of the corner of his eye.

Once Gin was gone Sarutobi said, "Good, his assessment of your skills is right along the same lines as Haran-san's assessment of you." Gesturing the two to come closer to the desk were he had a map of the Land of Fire he continued, "Early today we got a report from genin Team 7, under the command of Hatake Kakashi that they were attacked by A class missing-nin Zabuza and other Kiri missing-nins. They are in the middle of a C class escort mission, protecting a bridge builder named Tazuna while he finishes the bridge."

"This bridge will serve as a vital commercial link between the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire, so it is imperative that it be finished. His team might be able to handle the situation on their own, but they are a green team and it is vital that the bridge be finished. I want you two," said Sarutobi gesturing to Naruto and Isaribi before pointing to a river that was on the edge of Konoha, "to use this river and make all due hast to support Team 7. Kakashi-san knows you are coming and it should take under a day for you to make it there with the current on your side."

"You will make contact with them here," said Sarutobi pointing to a place on the coast of the Land of Waves, "and will be under the direct command of Kakashi-san. You have half an hour to pack and leave. Be prepared for a two week combat mission. Dismissed."

Quickly giving the Hokage a bow, Isaribi and Naruto raced out of the office to get ready to leave.

"Do you think it's wise to send them by themselves? I mean, their still only genin" said Haran in a concerned voice.

"They will be fine. They're strong and their blood limit makes them excellent choices for this mission. And if worse comes to worse, Naruto has the Kyuubi to draw power from to complete the mission" said Sarutobi with a smile as he took another drag from his pipe.

"If you say so Sir' said Haran, still not convinced.

XxXxX

Next chapter, the Wave Mission!!

Tell me what you think and stay tuned for the next chapter.

Ja ne!


	7. Chapter 7

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

I just want to remind the reader of two things before this chapter begins:

1- It is common knowledge in Konoha that Naruto holds the Kyuubi, but this fact is not widely known through out the rest of the world.

2- The Kyuubi is not a good character, it is evil and manipulative. It may be nice at times but it is still evil.

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_- Sounds like shrieks/whistles and clicks, similar to whale songs

XxXxX

_Previously_

"They will be fine. They're strong and their bloodlimit makes them excellent choices for this mission. And if worse comes to worse, Naruto has the Kyuubi to draw power from to complete the mission" said Sarutobi with a smile as he took another drag from his pipe.

"If you say so Sir' said Haran, still not convinced.

XxXxX

_Now_

Twilight was fast approaching the Land of Waves, painting the land in its orange and red glow. Kakashi was standing by the water's edge, leaning on his crunch and reading his book. Behind his was team seven and their client Tazuna.

"Kakashi-sensei, how much longer are we going to wait for these people?" whined a pink haired kunoichi in a red combat dress.

Looking up from his book, Kakashi said, "Patience Sakura-chan, they should be arriving shortly."

On the other side of him a boy with black hair and onyx color eyes huffed, "We don't need help, we could have done this by our selves."

"Now, now Sasuke-kun, the one's who will be helping us specialize in water combat. And besides, it's not a good idea to automatically think that someone is weaker than you or that you can do every thing by yourself. If you do then you're leaving yourself open to defeat" lectured Kakashi without taking his eyes off of his book.

"Do you two have anything to add to this?" asked Kakashi looking over at Kiba who has sitting down with Akamaru in his lap looking bored as Tazuna stood next to him and kept glancing around nervously.

"Where are they, I don't see any boats on the horizon at all" said Tazuna nervously.

"Oh, they're not coming by boat" said Kakashi to the shocked faces of the group.

"If they're not coming by boat then why are we here?" said Kiba standing up.

"Oh, you'll see. In a matter of fact, they're here now" said Kakashi snapping his book shut.

From out of the water two figures arose, like monsters from the deep and made their way on shore. They were dressed in their normal clothing except their gloves, shoes and coats were sealed away in the storage scrolls on their backs.

"Naruto, Isaribi, glade you two could make it is such a short amount of time" said Kakashi with a fake smile. He didn't hate to two, but he could never look at Naruto without thinking of the monster that was inside him, the monster that took his last surviving teammate and his sensei all in the same night.

"Tazuna-san, this is…" Kakashi was about to say when he was cut off by Sakura.

"They sent them to help us!" she shrieked. "They're monsters!"

"Now, now Sakura-chan don't judge people based on their bloodlimit" said Kakashi sternly.

"That's not what I'm talking about…" Sakura was saying before a look from Kakashi silenced her.

"Tazuna-san, this is Naruto-san and Isaribi-san. Isaribi-san, Naruto-san, this is the client Tazuna-san" said Kakashi introducing them to Tazuna.

Giving the startled man a bow Naruto and Isaribi said, "Greetings Tazuna-san."

"R-right, greetings to you too" said a still startled Tazuna.

"Great, now if there isn't any further…" Kakashi was saying before he was once again interrupted, this time by Sasuke.

"Humph, we don't need the help of the demon or his bitch" coldly stated Sasuke.

Naruto let out a growl and both he and Isaribi were about to attack the Uchiha when Kakashi steeped in. "Sasuke, that was out of line" he said coldly.

"It's true" smugly stated Sasuke as he looked at the two being held back by Kakashi.

"Ano, what does he mean by that?" nervously asked Tazuna looking at the group of ninjas in front of him.

"It is nothing that you need be concerned about" said Kakashi with a smile, "and nothing that need be brought up" he said cold looking at the genin.

Quickly Naruto and Isaribi pulled out their storage scrolls and took out their cloths and wrappings and put them on. Completely covered up again they gave Kakashi a nod.

Seeing that they were done Kakashi said, "Alright, let's get going" as he led the group back to Tazuna's house with his genin off to the right and Naruto and Isaribi off to the left.

XxXxX

The next morning the assembled ninjas meet in the kitchen before breakfast.

"This is the situation" said Kakashi looking at the genin. "Zabuza is still alive. That hunter-nin was most likely working for him or Gato, that's why the body wasn't destroyed immediately after he killed him."

"Given the amount of injuries he sustained, he will most likely be back to full combat capabilities in about a week's time. To prepare for this I will be giving you guys some extra training (looking at team seven) while you two (looking at Isaribi and Naruto) guard Tazuna. Any questions?" asked Kakashi as he looked over the genin.

Seeing no complaints Kakashi nodded his head, "Good, then lets eat before we get going."

They quickly and quietly ate breakfast and Kakashi lead Team Seven off into the woods to train while Naruto and Isaribi waited for Tazuna to finish up with his breakfast.

Once Tazuna finished with his meal and washed up he, Naruto, and Isaribi were off.

Walking through the streets the poverty and despair of the people was evident to the two genin.

"This land used to be a prosperous place, but then Gato came. He took over all the shipping companies and was soon in control of the government. Anyone who tries to oppose him has been killed" said Tazuna looking at the village before him.

"That's why this bridge is so important. It will open up a trade rout so that will bypass what Gato controls. And if it wasn't for you ninjas helping us then even this last bit of hope would have been destroyed by Gato."

Naruto and Isaribi remained silent throughout Tazuna's little speech and glanced around the village. It was clear that the place had fallen on hard times, but there was evidence that told of the land's former glory.

"Hey, what's the Land or Waves main export?" asked Isaribi.

"Well, there's fish, clams, pearls, seaweed, and some medical herbs for the most part. Also during the fall we also bring in whales for meat and oil" said Tazuna as he glanced at Isaribi on his right. "I know it's not a lot, but it allows us to live comfortably. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious, that's all" she said with a smile as she glanced at a bar that looked like a pirate hangout.

Soon the group reached the bridge and began to make their way to the end where the construction was taking place.

"Soon this bridge will be complete" said a proud Tazuna. "I estimate that it will be done in about two weeks if we can keep up the pace we are at now."

Tazuna moved away from the two and began to order people around.

"_I'll stay up here and guard him, you go check out the rest of the bridge and the surrounding water_" said Isaribi glancing at Naruto.

Nodding his head Naruto walked to the edge of the bridge. One of the workers saw him as he step off the edge and called out, "Hey watch out!"

"Leave him be, we are just doing out job" said Isaribi as she moved to stand on top of the railing.

In the water Naruto quickly removed his outer clothes and sealed them into his storage scroll. Flashing through some hand seals the water around him began to flow until it formed into the shape of ten different Narutos.

"_You six, go check over the entire bridge, you two will tale the sea to the right, and you and me will take the sea to the left._"

With a kick of their feet, all the Narutos were off to their assigned tasks. Going to the left, he separated from the clone that was accompanying him. The clone made its way into the deeper parts of the water while the real Naruto remained near the shallows and to the bridge in case he needed to get back in a hurry.

Looking up at the surface of the water, only one boat could be seen, a small fishing boat if the net being trailed behind it was any indication.

Diving down to the bottom of the sea, he let out a small sonar click. The return image showed him what was on the ocean floor and beneath the sand to some extent. Nothing really of interest showed up, there were some crabs, clams, a few small fish, and seaweed, but that was it.

Moving on, Naruto continued to patrol the water when he saw a large shape move just inside his vision before it disappeared again into the murky water that was caused by the movement of the fishing net on the bottom of the sea.

Not taking any chances, Naruto let out a sonar ping to ascertain what that shape was. The return image showed him that the shape was that of a large shark, but luckily for Naruto (or the shark if you think about it) it was more interested in eating the disoriented fish than going after the fish-nin.

Moving back to the bridge, he was about to get out of the water to grab some lunch when he saw a small boat moving along the bridge.

Carefully, Naruto rose to the surface to see what the boat was doing. Onboard was one man who appeared to be taking pictures of the bridge as it was being built. Naruto was about to go up and question the man when he brought the engine of the boat to life and made his way back to the Land of Waves.

'A spy or a reporter?' thought Naruto as he thought about the man.

Moving down the bridge and away from the construction sight he climbed onto the bridge and put on his outer clothing again. With a burst of chakra to his legs, Naruto launched himself down the bridge and almost instantly arrived at the work sight.

Most of the workers were eating their lunches and surrounding them sitting of the railings was three Isaribis.

A fourth Isaribi was sitting down next to Tazuna and was eating a rice ball. Looking up she motioned to Naruto to come to her.

Tossing Naruto a rice ball for himself she asked, "Find anything?"

"There was one guy taking pictures of the bridge, but he left before I was able to question him" said Naruto before placing half the rice ball into his mouth.

"If you see him again make sure you question him. We can't let a possible source of information like that get away."

"Yea sure, HEY, wait! When did you become in charge?"

Chuckling at the interaction of the two, Tazuna said, "Trust me kid, its better that you letter her boss you around, or else your life could become hell. Just remember to be in charge when it counts" he said with a suggestive wink.

Blushing, Naruto quickly shoved the rest of the rice ball into his mouth to end the conversation, much to the enjoyment of Tazuna.

After lunch was over, Tazuna announced, "I'll be heading back now. There are some thinks I need to take care of in my office and I also need to pick up a few items."

Nodding both Naruto and Isaribi formed a hand seal and dispelled their water clones. Naruto swayed a little as the memories from his clones came back to him but the feeling soon passed.

Walking back into town, the group stopped by the local grocery store to pick up some food. As was expected, there was very little food available and the prices on the food that were available were extremely high.

Shaking his head sadly, Tazuna bought his food before leaving the store. Soon they arrived back at his house and after putting the food in the kitchen, Tazuna went to his office.

Isaribi took the position right outside of the door while Naruto made his way to the roof to watch anyone approaching the house and to guard the window. The sun was beginning to set when Team Seven returned from their training.

Entering the house all three of the genin collapsed at the kitchen table. They were dirty and tired, having learned the tree climbing exercise to build up their chakra control and reserves.

"I'm beat" said Kiba placing his head on the table. From the perch on his head Akamaru let out a small bark in agreement (he also learned the tree climbing exercise).

"Today was just the first day. We still have at four more days of cramming before the earliest time when Zabuza will be ready" said Kakashi. "Anything to report?" he asked looking up as Naruto and Isaribi entered the room following Tazuna.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. One guy was caught taking pictures of the construction sight, but he left before we were able to question him" said Naruto sitting down at the table.

Soon Tsunami came home and with the help of Tazuna and Kakashi began to prepare dinner.

"Isaribi-san, go round us up a couple of fish to eat" said Kakashi sticking his head out from the kitchen.

"That's not necessary…" started Tsunami but Kakashi cut her off.

"Let us worry about the food, with the prices as they are now it's the least we can do to ease the burden of feeding six extra mouths."

In a couple of minutes a series of whistles and clicks was heard and Naruto walked out the front door. He soon returned with Isaribi, each of them carrying two large fish.

Taking the fish to the kitchen, Tsunami saw Isaribi's coat dripping and said, "Oh dear, did you fall into the water?"

Before she could answer, Tsunami was on her in a flash and pulling at her coat, "Lets get this off of you before you catch your death of cold."

"R-really, I'm fine" stuttered Isaribi, but Tsunami persisted.

"I insist that you let me dry it for you"

"No it's really ok…"

"Isaribi-san, it's no use hiding the fact from our client's family. They might as well see you for what you are, and the same goes for you too Naruto" said Kakashi.

"Tsunami-san, you know of bloodlimits, correct?" asked Naruto and seeing her nod her head he continues, "Well me and Isaribi-chan have a bloodlimit that allows us to breath underwater, however, because of it we don't look like normal humans."

To prove his point, Naruto unwrapped his face and took off his jacket, showing his green scales and webbed hands.

Tsunami let out a startled gasp, but soon gave the two a gentle smile, "It's ok, I'm not going to judge you because of this. And besides I've seen a blue scaled ninja before who was huge. So compared to him you two are almost normal…Your not related to him by any chance, are you?"

Taking off her coverings, Isaribi said with a small smile, "Thank you."

"There's nothing you need to thank me for."

Ushering the two genin out of the kitchen, Isaribi and Naruto sat down at the table. All that Team Seven did was to raise their eyebrows at the now reviled pair, too tired to do anything else.

Soon dinner was ready and it was eaten quietly, Team Seven was too tired to say anything and Inari was busy staring at Isaribi and Naruto to say anything.

XxXxX

For the next few days things remained peaceful. Team Seven built up their strength while Naruto and Isaribi guarded Tazuna and began to learn the area surrounding the bridge. They thought of setting traps, but there was too much of a risk that an innocent boat would get caught up in them for them to justify putting them down.

However, on the night of the fifth and final day of training the peace in the Tazuna household was shattered.

Everyone was eating rich and some leftover fish for dinner, except for Naruto and Isaribi who were eating two small fish raw, to the disgust of Sakura. Kiba and Sasuke looked particularly worse for the ware, covered in scratches and bruises when Inari final snapped.

"Why do you try so hard?! Don't you know that Gato is just going to kill you?!"

Kakashi sighed, he had seen that this was coming and so he wasn't surprised that the kid had finally snapped.

"Don't you worry kid, we'll kick his ass! That the truth!" exclaimed Kiba with a loud bark from Akamaru.

"What do you know? You don't know anything about how cruel and powerful he is. You've lived you lives peacefully without having to suffer!" cried Inari.

If guns were invented, Kakashi would have shot himself to escape the stupidity of the last statement. Everyone in the group from Konoha had suffered in some way. Kiba with the loss of his father, Sakura with the loss of her father to the Kyuubi and the torment the other girls put her through, Sasuke with the Uchiha massacre, himself with the loss of everyone close to him, and Naruto and Isaribi…need I go on?

To room was deathly quiet for a moment before a dark chuckling could be heard coming from Naruto. Looking over at him his dark green hair was covering his eyes and his sharp teeth could be seen as he laughed.

"Haven't suffered? That's a laugh kid. Life is full of suffering," he said. Looking up only his right eye was visible and for a brief moment the sky blue color of the eye was replaced with a blood red color.

Inari was frozen in his seat with fear but he soon brought up the courage to make a witty comeback about Naruto having the cool powers when two webbed hands with sharp nails were placed on his shoulders.

"Be careful what you say," cooed Isaribi dangerously into his ear as she tightened her grip on his shoulder, "or you might not live to regret it."

Making her way back to her seat the room remained completely silent. Soon a shaking Inari quietly left the room and retreated to his room upstairs and was soon followed by his mother to make sure he was ok.

"That wasn't necessary you two" said Kakashi sadly.

"Probably not, but it felt good" responded Isaribi with a toothy smile, made all the more dangerous looking by the row of sharp teeth in that smile.

"Well all of you go get so rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."

XxXxX

Well that's it for right now, how did you like my take on Inari's pity fest?

Next chapter will be the Zabuza fight, who will live and who will die?

Ja ne!


	8. Chapter 8

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

**Just as a reminder this is a rated M story, so don't expect a happy, hart warming tale.**

**I'm reposting this chapter with changes to what happened to Tsunami. I have listened to what people have said about it and realized it was in extremely bad taste on my part to put that in. I apologize and here is the edited version.**

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_- Sounds like shrieks/whistles and clicks, similar to whale songs

XxXxX

_Previously_

"Well all of you go get so rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."

XxXxX

_Now_

Team Seven were escorting Tazuna to the bridge. Kakashi was in front, Sasuke was on the right, Kiba was on the left, and Sakura was taking the rear.

It was early morning as they passed through the town and they meet very few people in the streets. Upon coming to the bridge a light fog could be seen above the water.

Continuing down to the work sight the fog rose and enveloped the bridge. Reaching the construction sight, Tazuna let out a gasp. All along the side of the bridge were the bodies of the bridge workers.

Some of them could be seen bleeding, but all of them were still breathing.

Instantly going on guard Team Seven put their back to Tazuna and formed a protective formation around him. Suddenly out of the mist from all directions multiple Zabuzas emerged with swords drawn.

From Tazuna's perspective all of Team Seven became a blur of motion with Sasuke and Kakashi being untraceable to his eyes.

"Hehe, so your brats have some skill, eh Kakashi-san?"

Looking at the fog in front of them Team Seven saw Zabuza emerging from the fog followed by Haku with his hinter-nin mask on.

"Zabuza-san now is your last chance. Surrender!" threatened Kakashi as he raised his hand.

As Zabuza began to laugh Kakashi brought his hand down. From behind Zabuza and Haku a splash of water was heard.

Landing on the bridge was Naruto and Isaribi, each with a handful of water clones.

"What the hell?" muttered Zabuza as he took in their green scaled appearance.

"I'll say it again Zabuza-san, surrender now!"

"You wish scarecrow! Haku, distract them (motioning to Team Seven) while I take care of the freaks" said Zabuza and received a barley noticeable nod from Haku.

In a flash they were off. Zabuza felt the air grow colder as Haku activated his bloodline, but Zabuza paid little attention to it as he reached Naruto and Isaribi.

With a massive swing of his sword he was able to decapitate three clones and disembowel two that tried to jump away.

Jumping back the avoided a flurry of shuriken from Isaribi and by sidestepping to the right was able to avoid a water blast from Naruto.

Grinning savagely he dashed strait at Naruto who only had one clone left over from the initial assault.

The clone jumped at Zabuza with two kunai in his hands and aimed to stab Zabuza in the neck and in the gut.

Not even bothering to slow down or to move his sword, Zabuza simply backhanded the clone with enough force to cause it to collapse is a pool of water.

Reaching Naruto Zabuza raised his sword and brought it down will all his might.

Desperately Naruto tried to back steep out of the way and raised a kunai to defend himself.

Zabuza came down right on the kunai, causing it to shatter and continued to cut into Naruto. Even the added protection of his scales and body armor did nothing to halt the progress of the mighty sword.

Naruto was almost cut clean in half, from his right collar down his body, just missing his heart, and finally stopping at his stomach.

As Zabuza continued with his swing he took Naruto's body with him and as the swing reached its arc Naruto was flung in a bloody heap across the bridge.

With a savage cry Isaribi flung herself at Zabuza, the tears streaming down her face.

Grinning like a mad man, Zabuza parried Isaribi's furious attacks before brutally kicking her in the stomach. Coughing up blood she flew back and landed near Naruto at the side of the bridge.

Getting up she moved to attack again but was stopped as a long bloody slash connecting both her solders appeared. Falling back on the ground she barley saw Zabuza raise his sword for another blow.

'This is it' she though as she closed her eyes, the sounds of birds chirping began to fill her ears.

And the blow never came.

Opening her eyes again she saw Zabuza standing there, still holding his sword. But through his chest was sticking a hand surrounded in electricity.

Looking past Zabuza she saw Kakashi there with his sharingan eye uncovered before she blacked out.

XxXxX

(Team 7 perspective)

The fake hunter-nin charged at them.

As he charged he used the water from the destroyed water clones and from the mist in the air to form countless ice needles.

Sasuke and Kakashi jumped to the right and Sakura and Kiba grabbed onto Tazuna and they jumped to the left.

As they were separated from Kakashi multiple ice mirrors rose up and surrounded them. On each of the ice mirrors the image of Haku appeared and soon a flurry of sebon needles flew from every direction.

Kiba and Akamaru tried to doge left, receiving only a few needles in his arms and legs.

Sakura saw that the sebon needles were mostly directed at Tazuna and without thinking she threw him down onto the ground and used her body as a shield, protecting him from the weapons.

As the needles imbedded themselves into her body she let out a cry. Through the blood pooling down her face and into her eyes she could see Haku moving to attack again.

Suddenly a silver blur connected strait with Haku and a stream of blood began gushing from Haku's neck.

Standing over her Kakashi had a look of concern in his eyes. Calling Sasuke over he ordered him to begin fist aid while he rushed off to go aid Naruto and Isaribi.

Moving through the mist he heard an anguished cry and the sound on blood hitting the ground.

Entering the battlefield he saw weapons imbedded into the ground, Naruto half dead and almost cut into two but with red chakra healing his wound, and Isaribi bleeding on the ground about to be finished off by Zabuza.

Flashing through the hand seals he called upon his soul original jutsu, the chidori.

Reaching Zabuza right before the missing-nin was about to finish off the girl he plunged his electrified hand deep into his chest. It passed through the man's spine before destroying his heart and emerging on the other side.

Ripping his hand out of the now dead man's chest he rushed over to the two genin as the mist began to clear.

Isaribi's wound, while heavy, was not fatal. Her chest armor and scales had protected her from even worse damage and her natural healing abilities had already kicked in to begin healing the wound.

Quickly he removed her destroyed armor that was in the way and wrapped her chest and wound in a bandage coated with a special medicine to help increase healing and gave her a blood pill to replenish her lost blood.

Moving to Naruto, the blood drained from his face. If he hadn't been a jinchuuriki then he would have been dead long ago. Even so, his chance of survival was very slim.

The red chakra from the Kyuubi was working to heal him as best as it could, but it wasn't enough.

Carefully, Kakashi pushed the two parts of Naruto back together and began to pump healing chakra into his wounds. He was no medical-nin and only knew fist aid, but he wasn't going to sit around and watch the son of his sensei die right before his eyes.

As he began to pump more and more chakra into the wound, he could feel himself getting tired, but pushed that to the side. Already the combined effort of Kakashi and the Kyuubi had reattached the two halves of the boy together. All that was left was to heal the damage on a more intricate level than Kakashi could manage.

Cutting off the flow of chakra, Kakashi striped Naruto of his shirt and armor and applied the same type of bandage that Isaribi had to Naruto. He was still bleeding and soon the bandage was red.

Lowering his head band over his sharingan eye, Kakashi reached into his bag and took out a blood pill. This he gave to Naruto and by massaging the muscles in his neck, getting the unconscious boy to swallow.

Looking up he heard the sound of a dog barking and soon Kiba came up to Kakashi, limping slightly, as the mist completely cleared.

"Sensei! We didn't know were you were… what happened…" Kiba stopped as he saw the scene before him. The weapons, the blood, and the bodies.

"Are they going to be alright?" he asked concerned.

"They're stable now, but were going to need to call in a medical team. How's Sakura-chan doing?"

"Unconscious, Sasuke was able to remove all the needles from her, but she was still beading pretty bad from some spots. We bandaged her up as best we could, but I don't know if that's enough."

Looking over his shoulder at his two team mates and Tazuna he continued, "Tazuna is fine, it seams like she was able to block all the needles from reaching him."

Nodding his head Kakashi said, "Good, good, we'll retreat back to Tazuna's house and call for a medical team…"

Kakashi was cut off as he heard a laughter coming from the end of the bridge.

"Kukuku, so I guess the great Zabuza and his butt buddy weren't enough to finish the job!" laughed Gato from the end of the bridge.

"Oh well, all that's left is a bunch of worn out and injured ninjas."

Kiba and Akamaru both growled and were ready to pounce when one of Gato's men pulled out something from the back, or more precisely, someone.

Tsunami was standing there, bloody and bruised. Her clothes were in rages, tears were streaming down her face, and in her mouth there was a gage with a ball attached to it, to percent her from screaming and from biting her tongue.

Seeing this Tazuna broke down crying. Kakashi got up from his crouched position and drew a kunai and was soon flanked by Kiba and Sasuke.

"Kukuku, don't waste your time! Surrender the bridge builder and I'll let her go" laughed Gato.

Tazuna made a move to surrender himself but was quickly stopped by Kakashi.

"We will never surrender. Hand her over or be killed" he demanded to Gato, only to receive a round of laughter from Gato and his men.

"Get ready to attack" Kakashi whispered to the Sasuke and Kiba.

Sasuke got ready to perform a fire jutsu and Kiba and Akamaru prepared to attack using their family's taijutsu style. Revealing his sharingan again, Kakashi was just about to give the order to attack, when a pulse of vile chakra came from behind him, making his blood run cold.

XxXxX

Naruto as floating face up in a pool of water with his arms out to the sides

Around him was a giant sewer with water filling up half the room. Right next to his head was a massive gate, being kept shut with only a slightly frayed piece of paper with the word seal written on it.

"**Look at the mess you've gotten yourself into now kit**" said the Kyuubi in a somber voice.

Around Naruto the water began to bubble and flow as red chakra began to surround him.

"**Almost cut in half. Pitiful. You didn't even try to call upon my power to fight that worthless human. If you had you wouldn't be in this situation and your mate might not have been injured, or possibly killed**" laughed the Kyuubi in a condescending tone of voice.

"**But I guess I owe it to you.**"

The red chakra surrounded Naruto as he sunk into the water. Slowly sinking his mind barely registered what was going on around him. He came up to the bars of the Kyuubi's cage and passed right through them. They Kyuubi was waiting there, completely unaffected by the fact that it appeared to by completely submerged in water.

"**You will live**" said the Kyuubi as it clasped its hands around Naruto's body. "**And we will have our revenge!**"

XxXxX

Naruto's eyes snapped open.

Gone were the blue slitted eyes, replacing them were blood red eyes that if you looked into them you would swear that the fires of hell burned behind them and the whisker marks that were still etched on Naruto's scaly face darkened and elongated.

Red chakra began to bubble out of all of his pores and as Naruto rolled onto his hands and knees, a tail of pure red chakra could be seen. Soon that tail was accompanied by another tail, and as a third tail began to form a solid shell of chakra began to cover Naruto.

His scaly skin gave him considerable protection from the corrosive effects of the Kyuubi's chakra, but as the chakra shell hardened, his scales seamed to take on a dark red color before his entire body was encased.

Seeing this transformation Kakashi, Sasuke, and Kiba were frozen in shock, as were most of the onlookers. One mercenary broke free of his shock induced stupor and moved to run away.

A bad idea.

The movement immediately caught Kyuubi-Naruto's attention and in a flash he was next to that man. Before he could even scream out in fear he was ripped apart from a swipe of Kyuubi-Naruto's hand, sending pieces of his body across the bridge and into the water.

This action shook the rest of the mercenaries out of their stupor and they either charged or tried to run away, completely forgetting about Gato, Tsunami, and the Konoha-nins.

Quickly Kakashi grabbed hold of Tsunami and pulled her away from the area before all hell broke loose.

Kyuubi-Naruto took on a savage grin and let out a chakra blast, destroying the section of the bridge he was on, and blasting away the mercenaries foolish enough to attack him, not always in one piece.

Leaping into action and with a swipe of his tails and extended arms, Kyuubi Naruto made quick work of the remaining mercenaries, butchering them like animals. Those that were unfortunate enough not to get killed immediately writhed in pain as the Kyuubi's chakra ate at them before Naruto finished them off.

One of these unfortunate souls was Gato. The man had most of his spine ripped out from one of Naruto's swipes and as he lay there dying he cried out in anguish. He wasn't feeling the pain from the missing chunks of flesh and bone protruding from his body, he ceased to be able to feel anything below his neck because of the spinal cord damage.

Rather, he screamed as the Kyuubi's chakra touched upon the raw nerve endings that were still connected to his brain, a much more painful experience. As the world started to go black, he suddenly found himself in the air.

He couldn't feel anything so he didn't know he was now half the man he was before. But he did see his end as he went face first into the railing, splattering his brains all over the bridge and into the water.

Tazuna cradled the crying Tsunami as he looked upon the scene with shock along with the Team Seven. Sasuke was about to get sick and Kiba was already throwing up. Even Kakashi, a man who had lived his entire life of the battlefield, was feeling sick at the sight before him.

Kyuubi-Naruto turned his attention to Team Seven. He was about to attack them when a cough from Isaribi caught his attention.

"_Naruto…_"

This brought Kyuubi-Naruto out of his blood and killing frenzy and as he slowly made his way to Isaribi, the chakra shell faded away, revealing his green scales underneath still intact.

Reaching Isaribi the red faded from his eyes and he collapsed with his head on her lap, completely unconscious.

XxXxX

The land of waves was in an uproar.

The Inari, suffering multiple cut and stab wounds, was found by a neighbor. They heard what had happened and quickly a mob of citizens formed to rise up against Gato.

Reaching the bridge they were met with a horrific scene. The entire bridge crew was knocked out and injured, three of the Konoha ninjas were injured, and the entire end of the bridge was destroyed.

But what caused most of the members of the mob to loose their last meal were the bloody remains of Gato and his mercenaries. While they harbored no regret for what happened to them, the brutality and severity in which they were butchered was extreme.

Cleanup was a slow process, the bridge needed to be repaired and the bodies needed to be cleaned up. For the bodies, they didn't even bother given them proper burials, just a water hose to push them into the ocean.

Kakashi made sure to grab both Zabuza and Haku's heads for their bounties as wall as Zabuza's sword.

At the conclusion of the battle, the injured Sakura, Isaribi, and Naruto were taken to one of the rooms in Tazuna's house while Inari and Tsunami were placed in her room.

After taking them to the room and giving them preliminary medical attention Kakashi sent a message to Konoha asking for a medical team to come to aid them.

Sakura woke up after the first day but was still badly injured while Naruto and Isaribi remained unconscious. It took two days for the medical team to come from their aid.

Arriving at Tazuna's house the medical team and an accompanying chunin team spoke to Kakashi.

"What's the situation?" the lead medic asked.

"There are five wounded. Two civilians, one female genin with multiple sebon needle wounds, another female genin with a slash wound across her chest, and a make genin with sever chakra depletion as well as damage across his chest."

"Lead the way sir" as the medical team followed Kakashi upstairs.

Entering the room they Sakura was sitting in the chair by the window doing light hand exercisers to regain proper control over her limbs.

Giving the genin a quick checkup, two of the medics went to the room with Tsunami and Inari and healed their wounds to the best of their abilities. Returning to Naruto, Isaribi, and Sakura they prepared them for transport back to Konoha.

Gathering Sasuke and Kiba together Kakashi informed them, "We're returning to Konoha."

"Why?" questioned Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan, Naruto-san, and Isaribi-san have all sustained heave injuries. We can't safely guard them and Tazuna. As such the Chunin Team Thirty-Five will take over guarding Tazuna until the bridge is complete while we make out way back to Konoha with the medics."

Looking over the genin in front of him he asked, "Any questions?"

XxXxX

A little different from the way the series went. Since Kiba is more demanding than and not as flirtatious as Naruto, Sakura was pushed to actually train more. Pulse she also was able to train with the others the entire time despite mastering the tree walking exercise so quickly, so this gave her added strength and determination.

And about Zabuza, when fighting Naruto and Isaribi he was going for the quick kill instead of playing around like he did in the series when Team Seven first encountered him.

Sorry it took so long to update, finals came up for my college so I couldn't write, but I'm back now!!

As always tell me what you think, I love to hear your suggestions to improve this story.

Ja ne!


	9. Chapter 9

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

_Previously_

"Sakura-chan, Naruto-san, and Isaribi-san have all sustained heave injuries. We can't safely guard them and Tazuna. As such the Chunin Team Thirty-Five will take over guarding Tazuna until the bridge is complete while we make out way back to Konoha with the medics."

Looking over the genin in front of him he asked, "Any questions?"

XxXxX

_Now_

The gates of Konoha came into view.

Kakashi was walking in front, with Kiba on the left and Sasuke on the right. Sakura was behind him, covered in bandages but still able to walk.

Behind team seven the medical team was split into two pairs with each of them carring a stretcher with a hood on the top, protecting the occupants from the sun. On the right was Isaribi and on the left was Naruto.

Reaching the gates, Kakashi spoke with the guards before ushering the rest of the party into the village.

"Kiba-kun, accompany Sakura-chan and the medical team to the hospital please, and after than you can go home. We will meet at the training ground in two days" said Kakashi before heading to the Hokage's tower to fill out a mission report.

With a sigh Kiba took off after Sakura and the medical team while Sasuke turned in the opposite direction to make his way home, his hands in his pockets.

Reaching the hospital, Naruto and Isaribi were taken directly to the Intensive Care ward while Sakura was ushered into an examination room. Instead of leaving right away, Kiba stuck around to check on Sakura.

"You feeling any better?" he asked as she sat down on the hospital bed.

"A little. It's still hurts when I move around too much, but those medics were able to heal the major injuries well enough. Well, I'm just lucky to be alive after being turned into a pincushion like that" said Sakura with a small laugh.

"Yea, Kakashi-sensei said that it seemed like that fake hunter-nin wasn't aiming to kill you…So, how do you think those two will make out?" asked Kiba nodding towards the door and the direction on the Intensive Care ward.

"Hard to say, they both were heavily injured… but he's got the demon to heal him and she probably has something too" said Sakura in a tone of voice that sounded like she was trying to convince herself of the fact.

"Yea, your right" said Kiba, his conviction, as well as his fear and hatred, clearer than his injured teammate.

XxXxX

At the Hokage's tower Kakashi was just finishing making his report. This mission would go down in history of just how much a seemingly simple mission can go to hell in a hand basket. Right now, all he wanted to do was go home, take a bath, and read some good Icha Icha.

Sarutobi just sat behind his desk, his pipe moving uneasily in his hands as he thought over the situation. The initial report from the medics said that, despite the injuries the genin had sustained, they will all make a full recovery in the next week.

Sakura was lucky that the Hunter-nin wasn't aiming to kill, Naruto had to Kyuubi to enable him to make a full recovery, and Isaribi seemingly inherited some of the Kyuubi's regenerative abilities.

"Naruto-kun was able to draw out three tails of energy, correct?" Seeing Kakashi nod Sarutobi continued, "And how much damage did he receive from the experience?"

Kakashi thought this over for a few seconds before answering in a mildly surprised tone of voice, "Now that I think about it, besides the chakra exhaustion, he received no damage at all. But how it that possible? I saw the Kyuubi flay men alive who go to close to it because of its chakra."

"Most likely it's because of the transformation he underwent. I wouldn't be surprised it Isaribi-chan could also stand the chakra too."

"What does this all mean for us?"

Putting his pit down and looking out the window with a smile, Sarutobi said, "It means that not only can Naruto call on the Kyuubi when needed, but he can also survive using it."

'We can use the Kyuubi to defend the village it once tried to destroy.'

XxXxX

Latter, in one on the rooms in the Intensive Care ward the figure in the bed began to stir.

Opening her eyes, Isaribi squinted at the lights. 'Why are the lights always so bright in a hospital…and right in your eyes for that matter?'

Sitting up in bed, her chest felt sore and she could feel the new scales moving under the bandages. Looking to the window she let out a gasp as pain shot through her chest.

"You should really take it easy gaki, you can't heal as fast as Naru-kun" came a voice to her left.

Allowing herself to fall back down onto the bed, Isaribi tilted her head to the sound of the voice. Sitting on one of the chairs, dressed in her fishnet and trench coat outfit was Anko.

"How long have you been sitting there?" asked Isaribi as she glanced over at the woman who was as much an older sister as she was her mentor and hero figure.

"Oh, about an hour or two" said Anko, a little tired as she leaned back in her chair. "You should have heard yourself in your sleep, saying 'Oh Naruto-kun' and 'Lower' as well as some other things" laughed Anko with a mischievous grin, enjoying the blush spreading across the younger girl's face.

"Y-you lie" stuttered a flustered Isaribi.

"Maybe, maybe not" smiled Anko before her face became more serious. "How do you feel?"

"My chest is still sore, but besides that, I feel fine."

"Do you want to try walking around a bit?" asked Anko getting up from her chair and going to Isaribi's bedside.

"Yea, sure. Is it ok though? I clearly remember the doctors not liking patients getting up right away."

"True, but who has ever listened to what they say" responded Anko as he helped Isaribi get out of bed.

Getting out of bed Isaribi took a few tentative steps before she had to reach out and hold onto Anko for support.

"Careful" commanded Anko. "You've been out for a while and are still healing."

"Yes Anko-sama" responded Isaribi in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Now, now, is that the kind of treatment I get for trying to help you out" fake pouted Anko. "Well then, I will just leave."

As she began to move away, Isaribi tightened her grip on Anko's arm.

"Not funny."

"Lighten up, it was so funny" laughed Anko as she grinned at Isaribi.

To two lapsed back into silence as Isaribi regained her stability on her legs.

"How's Naruto-kun?" she asked as she sat down on the chair by the window.

"He's in about the same condition you are in right now" responded Anko as she took her seat by the bed. "He woke up this morning while I was still on duty and was brought before the Hokage and the council."

"Why?" cried a started Isaribi. "He's not in trouble, is he?"

"Not necessarily. They wanted to check on the Kyuubi's seal to make sure it wasn't damaged and to…discuses what happened."

"He didn't hurt anyone important! Those men he killed where Gato's thugs. If anything he should be praised for getting ride of them" stated Isaribi in a huff.

"That's not the issue. It's more how he killed them. According to Kakashi's report, he lost control and if it wasn't for you he would have attacked Team 7."

"The council and the Hokage will probably stress the importance of controlling the demon and only using its power to kill the enemy."

Seeing that Isaribi was still worrying Anko got up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry. He's not going to be punished, and besides, Yamato-kun is with him. If anything, he will be assigned to work with Yamato-kun to control the Kyuubi."

"Why- oh, it's because Yamato-kun's mokuton abilities can control the Kyuubi."

"Right you are. Now let's see about getting you out of this joint, shall we?"

XxXxX

As Naruto left the council chambers along with Yamato, he let out a sigh of relief. All he had to do was give a report of the mission, including the parts about the contact with the Kyuubi, and then sit through a boring lecture about control and comrades and stuff.

Honestly when he found out about the summons the worst case scenarios came to mind, from imprisonment, to experimentation, to even being permanently placed on the frontlines in some suicidal position.

But no, instead his 'punishment' was that he now had to work with Yamato on controlling the Kyuubi's chakra. In fact the council seamed pleased by the fact that he could control the Kyuubi up to a certain extent and even after that to come out of the experience unharmed.

That, in of it's self, freaked Naruto out to no end. He had never met the council in person before but he had always expected them to hate him like the rest of the villagers. But they didn't, or if they did they didn't show it.

Walking next to him similar thought were going through Yamato's head.

He was already planning on working with the boy to control the demon, but this was just sooner than expected. What concerned him was the reaction of the council.

They were a little too happy and nice to Naruto. Like kids who are looking at a toy they know they're going to get for their birthday.

Glancing at Naruto, Yamato thought, 'well to them, you have just become that ultimate toy they've always wanted.'

The jinchuuriki next to him was becoming the ultimate tool for the village, and he didn't even realize it. Already his unique bloodline was valuable, but add that with the power of the Kyuubi… It's a good thing that Naruto showed it's possible for him to control that power, or in the very least, survive it. If not… Yamato shuddered at what they might do.

"Do you think Isaribi is awake yet?" asked Naruto, breaking the silence between the two.

"Hum? Oh yes. Anko took her home a few hours ago after she woke up. I called the hospital while you were going one-on-one with the Hokage at the end" responded Yamato as he was brought out of his revelations.

"So, I guess we should head home too, hu?

Nodding his head Yamato didn't verbally respond, choosing to instead place his hand on the boy's shoulder and in a swirl of leaves, they were off.

XxXxX

In a few days the two had recovered enough to resume active duties. Getting up early that morning they made their way to the training ground to meet up with Haran-sense and Gin.

Arriving they found Gin already sitting under the tree reading a scroll but Haran-sense was no where in sight.

Raising his head as the two approached, Gin said, "Ah, so you're back! Heard that you to got the crap beaten out of you, hu?" Smiling playfully he continued, "Looks like you two still need me around to save ya, hu?"

Naruto let out a chuckle and responded, "And if you went up against the guy we did you wouldn't be in one piece, so hu! (sticking tong out)"

"Haha, yea, ya probably right. Meeting the business end of one of the seven swordsmen of the Mist, that's an experience I can happily live without. Must of left some interesting scars to remember it by, though."

"Not really on me" said Naruto.

"I have a faint line of new scales, but I will probably disappear as they age" said Isaribi.

"It's a good thing you two had those chest armors on, or else you both might have been killed" said Gin as he got up from the base of the tree. "By the way, what happened to them?"

"Mine got completely destroyed" said Isaribi.

"So did mine, but it didn't help that much for me anyway" said Naruto as he rubbed his shoulder.

"That's what you get for going all gun-hoe on an A-rank missing-nin" said Gin as he lightly hit Naruto on the back of his head.

"Yea yea, whatever."

"So, did you two get new armor, or are you going to stick to the ninja wire fishnet shirts the rest of us wear?"

"That armor is expensive and hard to come by, so yea, it's the fishnet armor for us" said Isaribi pulling on her jacket a little.

The group was quiet for a minute, but soon a grin spread across Gin's face.

"Hahaha, You two better be careful when you take your jackets off and go swimming now!" laughed Gin. Seeing that they didn't catch the joke, Gin continued, "Because someone will think they've got two great fish in their nets! Get it? You're part fish and wearing fishnet! Ha!"

"Har har har, very funny" half heartedly glared Isaribi.

"Ow, lighten up you two, it was so funny."

"As usual your humor Gin-kun leaves much to be desired" came a voice from the trees above them.

Looking up the two genin and one chunin saw Haran standing upside down on the tree branch.

Dropping down in front of the group, Haran he handed two pieces of paper into Naruto and Isaribi's hands.

"These are forms for the chunin exams that starts tomorrow. Do you want to take them?"

Briefly Naruto and Isaribi exchanged glances before they both nodded.

"Good" handing them both pens he waited until they finished filling the forms out before continuing. "Since Gin-kun here is already a chunin you will need a third team member. Come on out now!"

From behind a tree steeped a boy around the same age as Gin with silver hair and glasses, "Hello, my name is Kabuto. It's very nice to meet you."

XxXxX

I know this chapter is short compared to my others, but now the chunin exams start!

Get read for action, mayhem, blood, and violence!!


	10. Chapter 10

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

_Previously_

From behind a tree steeped a boy around the same age as Gin with silver hair and glasses, "Hello, my name is Kabuto. It's very nice to meet you."

XxXxX

_Now_

In the crowded examination room teams from every shinobi nation allied with Konoha were present. But just because they were allies did not mean that they were friends with each other.

The tension in the room could practically be cut with a kunai and the whole situation could very easily turn into a blood bath.

Standing near the back desks Naruto, Isaribi, and Kabuto waited. During the time the two spent with Kabuto yesterday they felt that they were able to get a reasonable assessment of his skills.

The medical-nin was strong and was very intelligent. This intelligence had been used as they found out to try to get a heads up on the competition. He had shown them the information cards and they were too surprised and impressed by his information gathering skills to question where he got his information.

As they waited they watched as more and more genin came into the room. Most of the chunin hopeful's where either from Konoha or Suna, with Konoha in the majority.

This made sense given the fact that those two were the two major shinobi villages in the alliance and Konoha was hosting the exams.

Watching the genin nervously shuffle around they noticed that some, like the group of rooky Konoha genin or the sword team from Suna were nervously pacing around, while others like the Kusa genin or the red head, named Gaara or something according to Kabuto, looked like they wanted to kill everyone there.

Suddenly the tense silence was broken by a loud "Sasuke-kun!" as one of the rooky Konoha genin launched onto Sasuke's neck.

"Get off of him Ino-pig!" yelled Sakura as she slapped Ino away from Sasuke.

Already their little argument had gained the attention of the entire room and at it looked like blood would be spilt at any second.

Seeing this, Kabuto left Naruto and Isaribi and politely told then to be quiet.

Isaribi and Naruto stayed where they were standing, only catching glimpse of the conversation Kabuto was having with the rooky genin. Apparently he was showing them the info cards he had.

At this Isaribi snickered, causing Naruto to shoot a glance at her.

In response she surged her shoulders and said, "_Boys in their trading cards._"

This caused Naruto to chuckle a little and almost missed what Kabuto said as he held up a card showing the villages attending.

"…Otokagure only sent one team, most likely due to the fact that they are a new village and can't afford to send out more than one team."

Upon hearing this, Isaribi and Naruto caught out of the corner of their eyes two figures moving swiftly through the crowd of genin towards Kabuto.

Without thinking, the two hurled themselves at Kabuto's would be attackers, with Naruto tackling the poncho and bandage wrapped nin while Isaribi brought down the other.

In a mater of moments, before any of the rooky genin could react, Naruto and Isaribi had their opponents pined and held kunai at his throat (Isaribi) and the base of his neck (Naruto).

Before the scene could escalate into real violence, the proctors appeared in a puff of smoke with Ibiki standing in the front.

"Alright, settle down you maggots! And you guys from Konoha and Oto, settle down unless you want to be kicked out."

"My apologies" replied the poncho wearing Oto-nin as Naruto let him off the ground. "We're just a little excited, that's all."

"I bet you are" smirked Ibiki. "Alright, all of you, take a number and go to the set with the corresponding number."

The room became filled with the sound of the genin shuffling around and taking their seats.

When all was said and done, Naruto found himself near the center of the room with Isaribi off to his left and back, while Kabuto was two rows in front of him and a little to the right.

Glancing next to him, Naruto saw that on his left was a Suna genin with two small wrapped bundles on his belt ( AN: it's not Kankuro, it's just another puppet user, I was thinking something along the lines of two bird puppets that he can use to fly around and stab/poison targets). And on his right was one of the rooky genin, Hinata, looking nervous, but trying to hide it behind the famous Hyuuga cold demeanor.

"Alright maggots" Ibiki said once everyone was seated, "I will now explain the rules, and there will be no questions asked!"

Turning to the blackboard behind him and writing down what he said Ibiki announced, "To start with, you all have ten points. Get a question wrong and you loose a point. Get caught cheating and you loose two points. If you or one of your teammates falls below zero points then you are all disqualified. The tenth question will be announced in forty five minutes into the exam."

Pausing for a moment, Ibiki looked over the faces of the gathered genin, "Alright, begin!"

XxXxX

Naruto spent a full minute looking at the page before him, dumbfounded. Kabuto had told them that they would have to cheat and not get caught, but Naruto thought that the questions might be somewhat answerable.

Instead he was faced with a theoretical physics problem involving the trajectory of a weapon thrown by a 150 pound shinobi at an 18 degree angle.

To answer it you would have to deduce the force of the throw, atmospheric conditions, and the strength of the man all based on the variables given.

'A lot of jonins would have a problem with this one. No wonder we have to cheat.'

Looking around he saw that other genin had already figured out the need to cheat and began to do it as discreetly as possible.

Almost immediately the chunin on the side of the room began to record the attempts to cheat they caught. Within the first five minutes the first team, a Konoha team, was disqualified for cheating.

Turning his attention back to his test, Naruto began to contemplate the ways he could cheat. While their talk with Kabuto had highlighted the need to cheat, they did not go into length on the how part of the cheating.

Kabuto knew what he was doing, so no concern there about being caught, an Isaribi knew what she was doing, so no concern there either. This left the only weak link in his team's ability to pass this test in himself.

'Ok, no pressure'

Looking down at the test again Naruto began formulating a way to cheat. The simplest method would be to simply look at the person next to him, but that was also the most obvious.

'Yea, that might work' he thought as a plan began to formulate in his head.

Glancing at the people in front of him and to his right, Naruto covertly looked to see if any of their test papers were in view.

As luck would have it, Kabuto was purposefully angling his body, allowing Naruto to see the answers on his test paper. 'Well, that's better than nothing I guess.'

Looking back down at his paper, Naruto used the shadows created from the wrappings around his face to hide his eyes as he moved back and forth from his own paper to the Kabuto's paper, copying down the answers as Kabuto wrote them down.

Once Kabuto finished taking the test and Naruto finished copying the test paper, Naruto positioned the test paper so that while it looked like it was being hidden, it was actually visible to Isaribi in the back.

'She probably won't need any help, but might as well. Now I just have to wait for the final question to be reviled."

Sitting in silence Naruto waited as the clock ran down to the 45 minute mark. More and more teams were called out for cheating, but the majority of the genin were not being caught.

"Alright, time for the last question!" called out Ibiki, breaking the silence than hung in the air.

"Before I give out the final question, there is a new rule to go over. If you so choose, you may leave the test room right now and fail the test for you and your team."

Hearing this, the assembled genin were puzzled. Why would the willingly give up when there was only one more question left?

"And if you stay and fail the last question, then you will never be able to become chunin" finished Ibiki with a sadistic grin.

"What!?" cried out one genin. "There are people here who've taken this test before and they never said anything about this?!'

"Well, luck isn't on you're side. Those people did have me before and I've decided to make this rule this year. Deal with it."

Many of the genin began to sweat. Could they answer the last question? Did they want to stake their future on this unknown possibility?

For a moment, no one moved. Them slowly, one genin in the back raised his hand and him and his team shuffled out of the room. With his act, the proverbial damn broke and soon a flood of genin became to raise their hands and leave the test room.

From her seat, Isaribi was contemplating what to do. Should she quite or go on? Neither Kabuto nor Naruto gave any indication that they were going to quit and from what she was able to see from Naruto's paper, he at least knew what he was doing.

'I'll just have to trust in them' thought Isaribi, making up her mind.

No sooner did she come to this decision, the tide of genin giving up halted and the room was considerably less crowded.

"Are there no others who want to quit? This is you is last chance…" said Ibiki with his sadistic grin.

The silence in the room was almost suffocating when all the sudden Ibiki broke out into a big smile.

"Congratulations, you've passes the first test."

"…What?"

"What about the final question?" asked Tenten, raising herself in her seat slightly.

"Oh, the willingness to accept the risk was the final question. As chunin you will be constantly faced with life or death situations, not just for yourself, but for your team as well."

"But if that's the case then, what was the point of cheating to take the test?" asked Temari, leaning up from her seat.

"Hehe, that was to test you ability to gather information discreetly." As he was talking, Ibiki pulled off his bandanna, showing his scares from torture. "In the world we live in, information in life. Get bad information or get caught gathering information and you dead."

Ibiki looked like he was about to say more, but just as he was about to open his mouth a black ball shot into the room.

Kunai shot out and pinned the corners to the floor and ceiling and Anko stood in the center grinning like a mad women. Behind her the black cloth had, painted in white letters 'Your second proctor, Mitarashi Anko!'

"Alright brats, now's not the time to be celebrating, for you have to go through my exam now!"

Taking a quick survey of the room she noted that Twenty-four teams survived the first test.

"Ibiki-kun, you're slipping, twenty-four teams? What gives?"

Ibiki was about to reply but Anko cut him off with a wave of her hand. "It doesn't matter, I will cut that number down my half!"

XxXxX

That afternoon found the remaining twenty-four genin teams standing by the chain link fence that surrounded training area 44, also known as the forest of death.

Anko had just finished telling the teams the rules for the second event and they were getting in line to receive their gate assignment.

Throughout the entire briefing and even the day before, Anko was detached from Isaribi and Naruto. It might have seemed like a perfect opportunity to tease the two in front of all the gathered genin, but they also knew that any familiar interaction between the proctor of an exam and the genin would raise questions about favoritism and the fairness of the exams.

Soon they got their earth scroll, their gate assignment and where standing idly while waiting for the exam to start.

Pulling out a map of the training ground, Kabuto motioned to Naruto and Isaribi to gather around it.

"Here we are" he said pointing at one of the gates. "We're going to need to set up an ambush in a place where every team is sure to go.

"So the tower or a source of water?" asked Isaribi.

"Correct, good thinking" smiled Kabuto. Pointing at the map again he continued "If we go 12 degrees to the left when we enter the area we will make it to this stream. It's near the tower so we can ambush any team that goes to get a drink before quickly making it to the safety of the tower."

"Sound good…but is your map accurate enough so that we don't go stumbling off in the wrong direction?" asked Naruto concerned.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, I slipped this map from my father's files a week ago when I heard that that this would be the place of the second exam, plus I've been in these woods before so I know for sure that that stream in right there."

Before they could say anything else the sound of a blow horn ripped though the air, and the gates swung open, the second exam was on.

XxXxX

Two days into the exam a team from Ame were moving silently through the trees towards the tower. A genjutsu team, they were dressed in gray, had re-breathers over their mouths, and wraps on their faces.

The leader, with both of his eyes showing, motioned to his two teammates that they were nearing their destination. They could smell the water ahead, and like every Ame-nin, they knew at least some suiton jutsus to go with their genjutsu.

Pulse, they reasoned that other teams would be coming to the water to drink, and when their let their guard down they would strike.

Cautiously they approached the stream. The Ame-nin with both his eyes covered looked around first. Due to a bloodlimit he could detect genjutsu and people's chakra signatures with greater ease than anyone else. The only people who could beat his clan in this regard are the Uchiha and the Hyuuga clans of Konoha.

Turning his back to the river he motioned 'all clear' to his teammates.

Just as the Ame team began to fill their canteens and set up traps, that another trap was sprung on them.

From out of the water came a flurry of kunai, shuriken, and even two fuma shuriken.

Caught off guard, the Ame-nins scrambled to get out of the way, but the one with both his eyes covered and the other with one eye covered were still wounded by the weapons.

Suddenly the two fuma shuriken exploded in a cloud of smoke, reveling that they were shadow clones of Naruto and they launched kunai at the Ame-nins.

Catching them by surprise, the kunai pierced the throat and the back of the head of the leader (the one with both eyes showing) before his two injure teammates were able to dispel the clones.

But while the two were distracted, Kabuto appeared out of the woods behind them and with a chakra scalpels in each hand, destroyed their hearts from behind.

As the two dead nins fell forward into the grass and mud, Isaribi and Naruto emerged from their hiding place in the river.

Their outer clothes were safely stored in their storage scrolls and as they began to gather up their thrown weapons, Kabuto searched the bodies for their scroll.

Finding both a heaven and an earth scroll, Kabuto handed the heaven scroll to Isaribi and pocketed the other earth scroll for himself.

As Kabuto moved away from the bodies, Naruto moved towards them and began to pat them down, removing any weapons, scrolls, and other tools that could be of value.

"Naruto-kun… what are you doing?" asked Isaribi as she watched Naruto pocket a length of ninja wire.

"No point in leaving these guys with all their gear. Pulse, they actually have some pretty good stuff on them. Check out the quality of this kunai" said Naruto and he held up on of the kunai.

As Kabuto and Isaribi looked closer they understood what Naruto was talking about. While it was shaped the same way as their kunai, it was expertly crafted with the use of a couple of different metals, insuring it's sharpness as well as its durability.

Seeing this, Isaribi and even Kabuto moved to the other bodies and removed their weapons for themselves too.

Once they were done they began to make their way to the tower. With the tower in sight, Kabuto seamed to notice something off in the distance, back the way the came.

"You two wait here. It seams like another Konoha team is in trouble."

"Shouldn't we go with you?" asked Isaribi.

"No need" shrugged Kabuto. "I need you two to secure the path to the tower while I help them out. I'll be back before the exam ends."

With that, Kabuto took off into the woods, leaving Naruto and Isaribi behind.

"_Well, this sucks_" said Isaribi.

"_Yea…come on, let's get to work_"

XxXxX

For two and a half days, Naruto and Isaribi waited for Kabuto to return.

In that time they laid traps and dug pits to disable any other team that was trying to make it to the tower this way.

Already their traps caught another Konoha team as well as a Suna team.

Finally, as the exam was nearing an end Kabuto appeared, a little worse for the wear, and with a battered looking team seven behind him.

Leaving Team Seven behind and rejoining Naruto and Isaribi, Kabuto smiled at them.

"It's a good thing I showed up or else they would have been killed. Well, shall we complete this exam?"

Nodding their heads, Naruto and Isaribi followed Kabuto into the tower to compete the second part of the chunin exam.

XxXxX

Next up, the preliminaries!

So what did you think of the way I had the first to exams go?

Until I write again, ja ne!


	11. Chapter 11

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Because it's been such a long time since I last updated, this will be an extra long chapter!

So enjoy!

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_

XxXxX

_Previously_

Nodding their heads, Naruto and Isaribi followed Kabuto into the tower to compete the second part of the chunin exam.

XxXxX

_Now_

Naruto and Isaribi stood side by side looking at the score board, waiting to see who would be up first.

Just a moment ago, Kabuto dropped out of the exam, claming to be too tired and injured to fight any more. Naruto could see that the guy looked beaten up and dirty, but to have to drop out?

'If he thinks he's not up to it, no point in pushing it.'

The first contestant name appeared, followed by the second.

"Ok, Uchiha Sasuke and Mako Isaribi remain on the floor. Cough, everyone else get up to the balcony" announced the proctor.

Moving up to the balcony, Naruto said to Isaribi, "_Good luck_."

Isaribi didn't responded verbally, but the grin she put on her face said it all. She was going to win, and enjoy it too.

Getting up to the balcony, Naruto found himself standing next to Team 8 with Haran joining him to watch the fight.

Down on the floor the two were glaring at each other.

Sasuke had on a confident smirk that showed just who he thought was the better of the two, while Isaribi had a grin on that showed through all the bandages on her face.

Looking at the two contestants while raising his hand, the proctor let it fall down fast with a shout of "Begin!"

Sasuke leaped into action first, unleashing two shuriken that were dodged by Isaribi. But they were never meant to hit. They distracted Isaribi long enough to allow Sasuke to get in close for taijutsu.

If anyone was watching Sasuke's face closely while he was running, they would have seen him wince in pain as he fought to repress the curse seal on his neck.

Reaching Isaribi he threw a punch right at her midsection. But instead of the satisfying feel of his fist hitting his opponent, all Sasuke came into contact was her coat.

Quickly ducking, he was able to avoid the fist aimed right at his head, but was caught by her knee strait to his stomach.

Reeling backwards, Sasuke had the roll to avoid Isaribi's leg as it came crashing down onto the floor. An audible crack filled the room as the tiles where Isaribi's foot landed cracked and lifted up a little.

His eyes went wide, reflexively activating his sharingan as Sasuke saw the damage Isaribi just caused. This proved to be a fatal error as the moment his sharingan was activated he was griped with pain as the curse seal activated.

Using is lack of concentration to her advantage, Isaribi slammed her fist strait into Sasuke's jaw, cracking it and sending him flying into the wall.

Suddenly she felt a dark and malevolent chakra erupt from Sasuke and as he stood up she could see black flame like marks covering his body.

Moving too fast for her to follow, Sasuke smashed into her and they both went flying across the arena inches above the ground. While they were in the air, Sasuke had his right hand around Isaribi's throat and repeatedly slammed her into the ground, causing them to bounce as they flew.

After the third bounce, Isaribi was able to bring her legs up and kick Sasuke off of her and used her hands to push off the ground and send herself flying into the air.

Tracking her with his sharingan, Sasuke's face was split with a maniacal smile. He only saw Isaribi in front of him, and missed that the proctor and the different Jonin Instructors were preparing to intervene should they need to.

Hitting the ceiling, Isaribi pushed off where all her might to nail the still grinning Sasuke.

Confidently, while he couldn't dodge her in mid air, Sasuke felt sure he could block her attack. True she showed considerable strength from the punch and the kick, but that was most likely due to her using chakra to enhance her strength, and with the sharingan he barley saw her use chakra.

Giving this overconfidence, Sasuke was completely surprised when Isaribi slammed into him with all of her enhanced strength and a vicious snarl on her face.

Blood escaped from his mouth as first both of his arms where broken as she smashed into them, followed by a couple of ribs, and them even more ribs and possibly his pelvises as he hit the ground, just missing landing on his spine.

Standing up over the broken and bleeding Sasuke, red could be seen seeping from the corner of her mouth and stain the bandages near her face red and Isaribi looked at the proctor.

Kneeling down he confirmed that Sasuke was still alive before announcing, "Winner, Mako Isaribi!"

No one in the audience made a sound. The instructors were able to relax a little, knowing that they didn't have to step in on the match anymore, the genin from Konoha (minus Naruto) were shocked to see that happen to Sasuke with Ino and Sakura barely restraining themselves from running down to the floor to check on Sasuke.

Reaching where Naruto and Haran were standing, Isaribi was greeted by the smiles of both Naruto and Haran. But before either one of them could congratulate her or ask if she was alright, the next match started up.

"Temari no Sabaku vs. Tenten" the proctor called out.

Jumping down into the arena, both girls squared off at each other and waited for the proctor to start the match.

"Begin!"

As soon as the match started, Tenten unleashed a barrage of weapons of all shapes and sizes at Temari, only to miss every shot.

"Was that all you've got?" smirked Temari from where she stood, her fan partially opened behind her.

Girtin her teeth, Tenten attacked again.

XxXxX

Up in the stand, Gai watched as his student was attacks were deflected time and time again.

'Tenten, you must change your tactic. It won't work on a wind user. At this rate you're going to loose' he thought grimly.

True enough to his prediction, once Temari had her fan opened all the way she quickly decimated the now tired Tenten. But right when the girl was about to kick the unconscious body of Tenten off her fan after the fight was called, Lee jumped down into the arena and rescued her.

This put a smile on Gai's face, 'Trust Lee to do the honorable thing.'

This smile didn't fade from Guy's face even as Shino caused Zaku to blow his own arms off in the next match.

The next match only made his smile grow even larger.

"Sai vs. Rock Lee!"

"LEE, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!" Gai shouted enthusiastically.

"HAI GAI-SENSEI!"

'Show the the power of your youth Lee!' Gai thought giddily to himself.

Jumping down into the arena Lee smiled at Sai, "Let's have a good match!"

Sai said nothing but just smiled back, waiting for the proctor to start the match.

After looking at both contestants, he yelled "Begin!" before backing up against the near by wall.

Sai immediately pulled out his scroll and unleashed three ink creatures at the now charging Lee.

Two of the ink animals were tigers and Lee was forced to side steep their attacks before doing a back flip to avoid the talons of the one bird ink creature.

Kicking up with his right foot, Lee caught the back end of the bird, causing it to dissolve back into regular ink, before he unleashed a swarm of shurikens at Sai and the two remaining tigers.

The two tigers took the brunt of the attack, allowing Sai to escape but causing them to revert back to blobs of ink. Keeping his scroll out, he summoned another tiger, along with a bear, a snake, and two more hawks.

These new animals quickly attacked Lee, forcing him to go on the defensive while Sai got around to his side.

Running through some hand seals, Sai breathed in deeply before letting out a spray of fireballs at the distracted Lee.

From where he was, Lee already took out on hawk and the tiger when he caught sight of the incoming fireballs. Quickly he tried to jump, but the snake latched onto his legs.

It was destroyed due to the force of Lee's jump, but it slowed him down enough that the fireballs were able to singe Lee's legs and set his orange ankle warmers on fire.

All of Sai's remaining ink creatures were also destroyed, but with Lee's legs burnt, Sai believed that he would be able to handle the rest on his own.

Landing away from Sai, Lee quickly ripped off the burning leg warmers, revealing the weights underneath. They had absorbed the heat from the fire, so Lee quickly threw them off before they burned his legs.

Sai frowned to himself when he saw the weights under the leg warmers. He was hoping that Lee's movement would have been seriously impaired, but his legs were protected by the weights. His frown tuned to shock when the weights hit the floor causing to tiles to crack and break where they landed.

As quickly as he could he summoned his two largest ink creations, a dragon and a griffon, but as soon as they were brought out, Lee disappeared from in front of Sai.

Without warning the two ink monsters exploded into globs of ink, and as Sai turned to track a green blur, he was met by Lee's fist hitting him squarely in the jaw.

He felt the bones break and teeth crack from the force of the hit as he went sailing through the air to land on the ground.

Fighting back the black spots at the corner of his eyes, he was about to try to get up when Lee placed his foot on the back of his neck.

"You fought a good fight, now please give up" smiled Lee not even winded.

Sai could only nod quietly and the proctor called the match.

"Winner, Rock Lee!"

XxXxX

From his position in the stands, Kakashi watched Lee's victory. The boy had greatly improved and it was supprising to see someone how used no chakra in his attacks cause so much damage and move so fast, at least for a genin.

Kakashi looked up at the scoreboard.

"Haruno Sakura vs. Kin"

'Now lets hope Sakura fairs better than Sasuke' Kakashi thought grimly to himself.

A little nervous, Sakura jumped down to the arena floor and looked at her opponent, the girl from Oto. Her face hardened. She had a score to settle with this girl due to their last encounter in the second exam.

As the match started Sakura flung a handful of shurikens at Kin while Kin threw senbon needles at Sakura. Both girls were able to avoid the attacks, and as the needles flew by, Sakura noticed that some had bells attached to them while others didn't.

This confused Sakura, but she had other things to worry about as Kin sent another barrage of needles at her.

Dodging out of the way, Sakura noticed Kin making a pulling jester with her hand. For the briefest of seconds, Sakura saw the stings the bells were attacked to before they rang and Sakura's world became disorientated.

'Genjutsu' Sakura thought to herself and smile 'a weak one at that.'

Taking advantage of the genjutsu, Kin sent another barrage of needles at Sakura and hit her dead on.

Kin thought she won, but suddenly Sakura disappeared in a cloud of smoke and in her place was a shuriken.

'Substitution!' Kin thought, 'Then that must mean!' Kin thought as she twirled to face the wall behind her, only to have Sakura's foot hit her squarely on the nose and sending her flying.

Sakura followed through on her attack, pumping her chakra into her fists and intending to pummel the girl until she couldn't move.

Seeing that Sakura was almost on her, Kin rolled out of the way at the last minute.

Sakura slammed her right hand into the ground were only moments before was Kin's chest. The tiles shattered under her blow, but that wasn't the only thing that broke. Giving out a cry of pain, Sakura pulled her bloody and now broken hand to her body.

Distracted by the pain, Sakura left herself open for a kick sent by Kin strait to her chest that sent her flying back.

Both girls looked at each other with murder in their eyes. Kin's nose was broken and blood covered her face, while Sakura's right hand was broken and bleeding, hanging uselessly by her side.

Pulling a kunai out of holster, Sakura charged at Kin, who began to form hand seals. Right before Sakura was on her, Kin finished sealing and clapped her hands together.

A shockwave of sound blasted Sakura back, rupturing her eardrums.

"How do you like my Funeral Applause no jutsu?" taunted Kin. "I bet you're having a mighty hard time standing up right now! HAHA!"

Her laughter only increased as Sakura tried to stand, but only collapsed back onto her knees.

Pulling out a kunai Kin confidently marched towards Sakura still on the ground. From her point of view Sakura was as helpless as a newborn baby, but she failed to notice Sakura's left hand.

Hidden behind her back, Sakura began to furiously trying to form one handed hand seals. She was told that Haku was able to do it and she had tried to do it unsuccessfully before, but it was do or die now.

Up in the stands, Kakashi's eyes widened. If she pulled this off, his worst and somewhat neglected student would become one of his best.

Kin pulled on the remainder of Sakura's hair and saw the girl take a deep breath and hold it.

"Breath for last breath bitc-"

Kin never got to finish her taunt as Sakura unleashed a fireball strait into the girl.

With an unearthly scream Kin flew backwards, her entire body covered in flames. Falling to the ground her screams died and she lay there, unmoving.

Moving quickly, the proctor quickly put out the flames on the girl, but it was too late. All that remained of Kin was a bunt and blackened corps.

"The winner, Haruno Sakura!" he called out.

A pail face Sakura tried to stand up, but stumbled a little.

But instead of falling to the ground, she was caught by her sensei. "Good job Sakura-chan" he said with a smile in his eyes as he took her to have the medics to look at her wounds.

XxXxX

The assembled genin were quiet. No one, not even the senseis' or even the Hokage had thought that match would ever end that way.

As Kin's body was removed from the arena floor, Ino was shocked. She had never seen Sakura so, so, vicious. And to win the match in such a manor…

Ino knew killing was allowed, but she never thought that it would be Sakura who would kill the first person on the arena floor.

She was brought out of her thought as the proctor called for the next match, causing her blood to drain from her face.

"Yamanaka Ino vs. Gaara no Sabaku"

Barely containing her shaking, Ino climbed down into the arena at looked at Gaara. She couldn't help but shiver when she saw into his eyes. There was blood lust and insanity there, along with a desire to kill.

Gulping, Ino knew she had only one chance to win.

As soon as the match started Ino formed the hand seal and cried out, "**Mind Body Transfer no jutsu!**"

Slumping to the floor Ino look like she went unconscious as she went diving into the mind of the unmoving Gaara.

"She didn't, did she?" asked an incredulous Kankuro.

"She did" replied Temari

"Poor girl"

"Indeed"

"Ten bucks says she comes out crying"

"You're on, but I say she will piss herself too"

The two siblings tuned back to the events below them.

In Gaara's mind Ino found herself surrounded in darkness. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She should have been able to find his brain to control him, not an empty void.

Suddenly the darkness began to fade, but instead of reaching Gaara's mind like she wanted, she came face to face with a monster.

Visions of pain, madness, and death flashed before her eyes and screaming she forcefully canceled the jutsu.

Stumbling backwards with tears streaming down her face, she cried out, "I give up! I GIVE UP! He's a monster! A jinchuuriki!"

Instantly all the jonin senseis were on alert and the proctor quickly called out, "Winner, Gaara no Sabaku!"

Clutching his head, Gaara said, "No! You will suffer! Mother Dema**nds BLOOD!**"

The sand around him began to flow in and out, surrounding him.

"Baki-san" the Hokage said calmly, "Please control your jinchuuriki."

Jumping down into the arena, Baki faced Gaara, "Gaara-san, control yourself! You must contro-" Baki didn't get to finish as an arm of sand sent him flying across the room and into the wall.

"Naruto-kun" the Hokage said is a calm voice, "Subdue him."

Ripping off his jacket and face wraps, Naruto landed in the arena on all fours, directly facing Gaara.

There were gasps of surprise from the Genin as well as some of the Jonin senseis at Naruto's appearance. Most had heard about, but never actually seen the green scales that covered Naruto or his other inhuman features.

Standing up from where he landed, Baki looked at Naruto and realization dawned on him. 'They have a jinchuuriki too!'

With Gaara's intention focused solely on Naruto, the Hokage ordered everyone to evacuate to tower.

As they gathered in the surrounding woods, Anko made her way to where Isaribi and Haran stood near the Hokage.

"Will he be alright?" Anko asked no one in particular.

"He'll be just fine" replied the Hokage.

"And if he looses control too?" asked Baki who came to stand next to the Konoha shinobi.

"Then it will be the job of Isaribi here to calm him down again" replied the Hokage, still as calm as ever.

XxXxX

Inside the now evacuated building, the two stared each other down.

"You are like me" stated Gaara.

"And you're like me" replied Naruto.

"Mother will LO**VE YOUR BLOOD**!" cried Gaara.

The floor ties cracked, and Naruto realized his mistake. While the two had been staring each other down, Gaara had been converting the rocks that made up the foundation of the building into sand.

A wave of sand shot up at Naruto and he was forced to take refuge on the ceiling to escapee.

Sand continued to whip around the arena, tinted with the gold of Ichibi's chakra. In the center of the man made sandstorm, Gaara began to gather the sand around him, covering his upper half to resemble to the Ichibi.

With a blood curling cry, he sent waves of send at Naruto and as Naruto dodged, Gaara went diving in for the kill. There is no escaping the Ichibi in a sandstorm.

The entire building shook as the two neared each other. Naruto's eyes were blood red and an outline of a fox could be seen covering him. And when they met, and explosion rocked the building, causing it to crumble and collapse.

From outside, the surrounding shinobi were shocked. Two insanely powerful chakra signatures were just felt, and now the building just crumbled and blew up!

From out of the top of the smoke, a figure covered in red chakra was seen flying up. Suddenly from where there was one figure, there were literally hundreds of shadow clones and they all dived down back towards the dust cloud.

"Everyone, retreat!" cried the Hokage and as the shadow clones descended, tendrils of sand rose up to meet them.

Where they met, explosions and battle took place. Some shadow clones made it through while others were destroyed.

"**You have to attack the host directly! Attacking the sand is meaningless. Do not be fooled by the fact that the Ichibi has only one tail! Even I am cautious when fighting him in the desert!"**

"Then how should I beat him! His sand is covering everything!"

"**Then get to an environment that suits you! I've made you a creature of earth and water, so use earth and water to defeat sand**" -1-

Bouncing off a shadow clone and dodging a tendril of sand, Naruto dived head first into the river.

"Is he running away?" said Choji staring in disbelief as Naruto dived into the water before looking back at the mass of moving sand, still taking out the remaining shadow clones.

"No…he's probably just needed the water for an attack…" Asuma was saying when Naruto made his move.

From out of the river banks came a massive fox head, made of mud, water, and held together with red chakra, it unleashed a torrent of high pressure water at the mass of sand before ripping into it with its massive jaws.

"That's just like Kushina's jutsu, but with the fox instead" said a shocked Kakashi with his sharingan exposed and watching the fight. "The Mirror Ring Hand no jutsu…" -2-

"You haven't taught him any of her techniques, have you?" he asked looking at Anko.

"N-no I haven't. It must have been the Kyuubi."

Naruto's attack destroyed the surviving forest surrounding the ruined tower as well as severely hampering Gaara's ability to gather all the sand in the area. But it was a failure. From out of the dust the massive figure of the Ichibi no Shukaku stood there, towering over all.

With a massive blast of wind, it scoured away a huge portion of the forest and the river where Naruto was waiting.

The surviving Shinobi from the tower were already outside the forest of death when the blast destroyed much of it. Already, the entire shinobi force of Konoha was on high alert, and if Naruto failed, then hopefully their combined force would be able to take Gaara down.

As they were speaking, Yamato was rushing back to Konoha from a patrol mission, having just received a report on what was happening. If all failed, he would be the best chance to stop the rampaging monster.

In the middle of the devastated area, Naruto got to his feet, two chakra tails already out and a third one growing.

He could feel his control slipping. All he wanted to do was to kill the Ichibi in front of him. Kill, ki**ll, kill!**

Launching himself, a crater was left behind due to the force his take off and as he raced towards Gaara, two waves of earth and mud formed next to him.

These waves soon took on the form of two massive fox heads, held together by red chakra.

Reaching Gaara, the fox heads moved ahead of Naruto and erupted from the ground on pillars of rock.

Gaara was able to destroy one of them before it landed, but the second, bit directly into the massive sand body of the Ichibi, holing him in place as Naruto made his attack run.

Racing up the body, leaving a trail of destruction, he made his way to the sleeping form of Gaara.

Right as he was about to strike, A wall of sand encompassed Naruto and he let out a blast of red chakra.

From the edge of the forbidden forest, the gathered shinobi saw and felt the explosion that encompassed the Ichibi before they heard it.

Sand sprayed everywhere, coming down over the destroyed landscape like rain and the observers lost sight of the two combatants.

"Report" commanded the Hokage to the nearest ANBU with a set of binoculars.

"Lost sight of the two" said the ANBU member. "But it appears that Uzumaki was successful in destroying the sand body. Whether or not he killed the opposing jinchuuriki or disabled him is still unknown."

Before he had a time to consider his moves, another ANBU member, this time in a tiger mask landed in a crouching position in front of him. Clearly out of breath, Yamato struggled to control his appearance in front of the Hokage and other shinobi.

His squad had already left Konoha and he returned as quickly as he could when he got the summons to return.

"Your special skills are needed Tenzou. We have one, possibly two jinchuuriki out of control. You will take ANBU squads one and five and retrieve the two" said the Hokage looking at the shinobi in front of him.

"Hai, Hokage-sama" said Yamato before taking off towards the area of destruction with the ANBU in tow.

Arriving at the center of the destruction, they climbed over piles of sand, uprooted trees and ragged mounds of exposed earth before they found Naruto and Gaara.

Gaara was on the ground, bleeding from slashes and cuts all over his body and Naruto was walking up to him.

His cloths were torn and he likewise had cuts all over his body. Looking up as the ANBU approached, he let out a weak smile before collapsing to the ground.

XxXxX

-1- When the series started they mentioned that the Kyuubi could cause landslides and title waves with a flick of his tail. I'm taking this to mean that he has a certain control over them.

-2- Reference to "Yondaime Gaiden" by kunoichi-san on DeviantArt, go read it if you haven't yet!

Sorry it took me so long to update. College started again and I couldn't find a time to write.

So what do you think of this chapter. I wanted to try to change the way the end of the second exams turned out instead of following the cannon which so many stories do.

Love it? Hate it? Have any suggestions? Please tell me, I'm all ears!

Ja ne!


	12. Chapter 12

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_

XxXxX

_Previously_

Gaara was on the ground, bleeding from slashes and cuts all over his body and Naruto was walking up to him.

His cloths were torn and he likewise had cuts all over his body. Looking up as the ANBU approached, he let out a weak smile before collapsing to the ground.

XxXxX

_Now_

Naruto's eyes slowly opened. Greeting him was the off white tile ceiling of Konoha's hospital.

Afternoon light poured in through the window to the right and through it Naruto was saw Konoha bathed in yellow and orange light.

To his left there was an empty chair and another hospital bed, also empty.

Naruto lay there half awake watching as the light from the outside coloring the room orange, red, then blue. Soon the artificial lights drowned out the darkness as night set upon the village.

Naruto was about to close his eyes again when he heard the sound of the door to the room sliding opening. At first he thought it might have been Isaribi or even Anko but instead was greeted by one of the medical-nins working at the hospital.

In silence the medical-nin checked over Naruto, running a complete medical scan on Naruto and writing down the results on his clipboard.

"How are you feeling?" asked the medical-nin, looking up from his clipboard.

"Tired and a little sore, but that's it" responded Naruto. "How long have I been out?"

"You've been out for a little over a day" said the medical-nin, glancing at the dates and times on the clipboard to double check this.

"Ah...and the preliminaries for the third exam, how did they go?"

"Sorry, I don't know myself. I've been on double duty since yesterday, but if I hear I'll let you know" he said as he began to leave the room.

"Ok, thanks."

As the medic left, Naruto was once again left in silence. Night had fully set on Konoha and the village was all lit up.

Hearing the door slide open again he was greeted not by the sight of the medical-nin returning but by Anko.

"Hey gaki, how ya feeling?" she asked as she sat down on the chair next to him.

Pushing himself up a little, Naruto responded, "Fine, just tired and sore, but nothing big. A medic was just in a few minutes before you walked in and he didn't say there were any problems."

"Yea, I ran into him on his way out. Nice guy, done a couple of missions together... He said that you were alright and could leave tomorrow morning at the earliest."

Nodding his head, Naruto pushed himself up even further, "What happened to the preliminaries?"

"Oh, what, after you helped to destroy not only the tower but part of the forest too?" Anko smirked. "That Gaara kid, the Jinchuuriki from Suna has been sent home and his brother and sister both withdrew to escort him home, and when I say withdrew they were ordered to return home by the Kazekage."

"The remaining genin went through their own matches today in the stadium. Let's see now...Hyuuga Hinata fought Akimichi Choji and she won. Inuzuka Kiba fought Nara Shikamaru with the Nara just barely wining, that kid is a freaking genius, was able to get the Inuzuka and his dog to knock each other out. Hyuuga Neji fought Dojin, the bandaged guy from Oto, Neji killing him. And last but not least Aburame Shino defeated the last guy form sound, Zaku, by having his arms blow off!"

Silence descended the room for a moment before Naruto asked, "So, when will the official third exam be held?"

"In about a month. This allows the contestants to rest up and train a little while at the same time giving the dignitaries and diplomats plenty of time to gather here."

Naruto was about to ask another question but Anko held up her hand to silence him. "I've got to get going gaki. Visiting hours ended long ago but I'll come back tomorrow with Isaribi-chan and hopefully get you out of here" she said with a smile before patting him on his head, to Naruto's chagrin, and leaving the room.

XxXxX

The next morning came with the doctors doing one last checkup on Naruto before the doctors said that he was fit to leave the hospital.

All his original cloths were too damaged to be salvaged so the hospital provided him with a pair of grey sweatpants and a blue t-shirt to wear home.

It was going to be an experience Naruto wasn't looking forward too. Not only news of what happened would have been heard by every villager, he would be showing off his green scaled skin for everyone to see and gawk at.

Just as he finished putting on his shirt and as thoughts of everyone pointing and staring at him filled his head, Naruto heard the door open.

Expecting to see Anko and Isaribi he was surprised to see Gin and Haran walk into the room.

" Haran-sensei? Gin-san? What are you doing here?"

"What? We can't walk our injured teammate out of the hospital? The same teammate who stopped that insane Suna kid?" smirked Gin.

"N-no, that's not what I meant..."

"We came yesterday too, along with Isaribi-chan, but you were still out cold."

"But how did you know I would be released today?" asked Naruto looking at Gin.

"My wife is a doctor here, so of course she was checking up on one of my students" said Haran in a tone of voice that made it seem like that piece of information was common knowledge to everyone. "Although I don't think she was one of the doctors who treated you."

"Oh, my thanks to her then" said Naruto awkwardly.

"Not a problem. Shall we get going then?"

Naruto paused for a moment and fidgeting on the spot. "Anko said that she and Isaribi-chan were going to stop by so..."

"Ah yes. I already sent word to her and she will be meeting us at the restaurant" said Horan.

"Restaurant?"

"Yes, to celebrate you and Isaribi-san passing to second exam" said Horan.

"So I passed? Even though I never actually fought my match?" asked Naruto.

"And what would you call that battle with that Suna kid you idiot? A step dancing competition?" laughed Gin.

"That counted as your official match, but the Hokage will be wanting to see you soon" said Horan. "He will send a messenger to get you, but there is time to eat first."

As Horan turned to leave Gin suddenly reached into his bag on his back, "Ah, almost forgot," he said as he pulled out a pair of sandals and the standard issue rain cloak for Konoha shinobi.

"Heard your shoes were destroyed too" He said giving Naruto the sandals. "And I wasn't sure if you wanted to cover up so..."

Gratefully, Naruto took the cloak from Gin and put it on with the hood up, "Thanks Gin. Really, thank you."

"Hey no problem, what are friends for?"

Soon they were out of the hospital and walking down the street heading towards where most of the villages restaurants were located.

"Man, now all we need is for you and Isaribi-chan to become chunins and we can go in more exciting missions!" exclaimed Gin happily as they walked.

"I mean, don't get me wrong the patrol missions weren't that bad" said Gin quickly, glancing over at Horan. "But I would like to take on some higher paying missions too."

"If we all are chunins, what type of missions will we take?" asked Naruto looking over at Horan and Gin.

"Well, recon, assassinations, higher level escort missions, guard duty, and even some sabotage missions will all be opened up for us. But that doesn't mean we will stop going on patrols too" said Horan looking specifically at Gin for the last part.

"It just means that we will be open for more dangerous missions. We are still one of the few water specialist teams in Konoha, so our missions will try to play to that. But given your performance against Suna's Jinchuuriki, Naruto-san, even if we take on missions in the heart of earth country we should still be fine."

The conversation settled down as the neared the restaurant, a steak house owned and operated by the Akimichi clan.

Walking inside Horan gave the waitress their reservation number and quickly they were seated at a corner table waiting for Anko and Isaribi to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long as so they heard the exuberant call of "Haran-kun!"

Turning in his seat Gin looked to see Anko and Isaribi approaching the table.

"Dude, that's who you live with? I thought she was supposed to be a complete snake loving psycho but she's a complete babe!" exclaimed Gin turning to Naruto.

"She is" deadpanned both Naruto and Horan at the same time.

"Aw and what are you boys talking about here?" slurred Anko as she approached the table.

"Just warning Gin-san here about you" said Naruto.

"Hey Naruto-kun, feeling better?" asked Isaribi sitting next to him.

"Much better, thanks!" he said with a smile.

With a smile on her face, Anko sat down next to Horan and pulled out the menu.

"Anko-san, this is my other student Gin-san" said Horan formally introducing Anko to Gin.

"Ah, Naruto-kun and Isaribi-chan have told me about you. You specialize in Ice based jutsus, don't you?"

"Y-yes" stuttered Gin a little.

"That's very unique. Not that many people in Konoha know those types of jutsus."

"My family is originally from Snow country but joined Konoha when it was founded, so...yea" said Gin nervously as he glanced down at the menu in front of him.

Taking the sudden break to jump in, Isaribi said, "Anko-chan, how do you and Haran-sensei know each other?"

"We've done some missions together" said Horan, not glancing up from his menu.

"Some missions? Some Missions? It's because of me you fell in love with your wife!" said Anko, practically shouting.

Tuning to Gin, Naruto, and Isaribi she said, "So here's how it went, we were sparing and-"

"Anko-san, I don't think they need to hear this" said Horan, slightly nervous.

"Shush you. Anyways where was I...Oh yes. We were sparing and things got a little out of hand. He was going without using his Byakugan when one of my snakes got the drop of him and bit him. You should have seen it, the venom causes extreme pain and he was on the ground crying like a girl."

"I was not crying like a girl Anko, your damn snake nearly killed me and all you could do through the entire trip to the hospital was alternate between laughing and apologizing to me."

"Well who would have thought a bright yellow and orange, four foot snake would get the drop on a Hyuuga in the middle of an open field. Anyways, he was through the worst of it and requested to returned to the Hyuuga clan compound. The doctors agreed as long as one of the Hyuuga doctors on staff checked up on him. And as luck would have it, that doctor would become this blok's wife" finished a grinning Anko.

"I would have married her anyways. Your story makes it seem like I never knew she existed when in fact I was trying to get to know her the formal way. Your poisoning just sped things along."

"Yea, keep telling yourself that"

"She still mad at you, did you know?"

"After all these years?"

"Hell hath no fury..."

After that the conversation turned to other light hearted topics as the group ordered and ate their food.

Soon the meal was over and as they were leaving the restaurant they were confronted by a chunin messenger.

"Uzumaki Naruto. The Hokage requests your presence immediately" she said before taking off again.

After saying good bye to everyone, Naruto quickly took off in the direction of the Hokage's tower.

XxXxX

Sarutobi sat behind his desk contemplating the piece of paper in front of him. With it the life and dreams of one of his shinobi would be forever altered.

He felt that chunin approach the door and before she could even knock, Sarutobi called out, "Enter."

"Uzumaki Naruto here to see you, as requested" said the chunin.

"Thank you, send him in please."

As she left he saw her motion to the smaller cloaked figure behind her. Entering the room and approaching the desk, Naruto dropped the hood from his head, reveling his green hair and scales.

"Naruto-kun, congratulations of an excellent show of force. You were able to take down a powerful enemy and sustain only minor damage to yourself."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"But it also presents a problem. You see, in you battle you showed great skill and power not only in controlling the power of the Kyuubi and taking down the Suna Jinchuuriki, your actions also made it known to all present without a doubt that you contain the Kyuubi."

"This isn't a problem with our own forces as they already know of your burden, but it was kept secret from the other villages. Now, because of your actions, this fact has become known the Suna, Oto, and possibly Ame and Kusa."

"H-hokage-sama, I had to other option. You ordered me to take him down and to do that I needed to draw upon the Kyuubi" explained Naruto nervously.

"I'm not reprimanding you Naruto-kun. You were acting under my orders" said Sarutobi with a small smile. "I'm telling you this so that you know why this decision has been made."

"What decision?"

"It has been agreed upon by the council, to have you removed from the exam so that the other contestants have a fair chance at passing and so that it will not look like to the other villages that we have rigged this exam to go in out favor."

Naruto just stood there in silence

"So I am not allowed to become a chunin?" he asked in a soft voice.

"No, no my boy. This means that your power level far surpasses most chunins, and certainly most genin." Taking a deep breath, Sarutobi continued, "Do you know about Uchiha Itachi?"

"He was suppose to be a genius and he snapped and killed his entire clan."

"Yes, yes. At the age of 10 he passed the chunin exams and at the age of 13 he became and ANBU captain. You and him have some similarities. Where he was a genius, gifted with one of the best tactical minds that Konoha has ever produced you could be considered a genius in the use of force and power. Where he could cause an opposing force to fold in on itself due to planning, you could take one head on and come out on top."

Standing up and going to the window he continues, "He was to one who first came up with the idea of causing the shadow clones to explode on command. Something that you have taken a step further, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes sir... but no offence, but what does this have to do with me not being allowed to finish the chunin exams?

"You have proven yourself loyal to Konoha multiple times and have shown that you can control the Kyuubi to a certain extent. Do you remember your battle with the Suna Jinchuuriki, Gaara?"

"Yes sir"

"Do you remember the jutsu you used to create the fox heads out of earth and water?"

"Yes sir. The Kyuubi showed me how to do it, kinda. It's hard to explain but he showed me the idea and the hand seals and...well, you know the rest."

"Yes, yes I do. But did the Kyuubi reveal where it knew this jutsu from?"

"No, he just showed me what to do."

"Ah, yes. The original move was developed by one of our kunoichi who was killed in the Kyuubi's attack. Originally from the whirlpool village, she came to Konoha when that village was heavily damaged and united with Konoha. Of course it wasn't a fox head that it made, but rather a replica of her hand."

Going back to his desk, Sarutobi pulled out a square piece of paper and handed it to Naruto, "I want you to channel some chakra through that."

Almost instantly the top of the paper became mushy while the bottom dried out and was on the verge of turning to dust.

"What does this mean?" asked Naruto holding up the card.

"That is a special type of card for discovering a person's chakra affinity, surly you've heard about it before."

Seeing Naruto nod his head, Sarutobi continued, "The top part means that you have an affinity for water, while the bottom says you also have an affinity for earth. This means that Earth and Water types of jutsus will come much easier for you than fire, wind, or lightning."

"Naruto-kun, I have to ask you, are prepared to take on highly dangerous missions where there might not be any backup? To remain loyal to Konoha and the Hokage in the face of all hardships and against all odds?"

"Yes sir" said Naruto without so much as a pause.

Sitting back down behind his desk, Sarutobi looked up at the portrait of the Fourth Hokage looking down onto the room.

'He is ready and Konoha can use his strength. You would understand Minato.'

"You passed the test Naruto-kun" said Sarutobi as he signed the paper in front of him.

"You are now officially offered a position in Konoha's ANBU forces. Go home and think about it. If you accept then head to this address at noon tomorrow if not there will be no consequences towards you. You are dismissed."

'Forgive me Kushina'

XxXxX

Naruto walked back to the apartment in silence, contemplating the Hokage's words and what would come next.

When he finally made it back there was still a few hours of sunlight left and at first glance the apartment was empty.

Sitting down at the table he pulled the note with the address and just stared at it.

So absorbed in his thought he didn't notice Anko coming out of her room, dressed only in a towel and her hair soaking wet.

Humming to herself she pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge before turning to Naruto.

"So, what did the old man want to talk to you about?"

"Yes" was all Naruto mumbled, still staring at the piece of paper.

"Naruto-kun...I'm talking to you...Earth to Naru-" said Anko a little put off as she rounded around the table but stopped when she saw what he was looking at.

Nothing about the paper gave it's content's away, but Anko knew that address. After all she too had been presented a similar piece of paper after an impromptu meeting with the Hokage.

The ANBU, besides being the elite shinobi branch in Konoha were also under the absolute control of the Hokage, and that meant that only the Hokage could give the final permission to allow someone to join their ranks. He doesn't always interview them personally, but on occasions he will.

Sitting down across from Naruto, Anko placed the water bottle on the table next to her.

"So that is what he wanted to talk about. What did he say to you?"

"He said that because it would become known from to the other nations that I and Konoha's Jinchuuriki, I will not be allowed to participate in the third exam" said Naruto quietly. "But that I am strong enough to be placed in the ANBU."

Silence filled the apartment until Anko broke it, "I remember when I was called to the Hokage's office for the same reason. I was trying to get into the ANBU them, filling out applications and taking dangerous missions, where here you are chosen by the Hokage personally. But even though I wanted it, I still had to think, 'Is this really what I want?' I won't lie to you and say the ANBU is a glorious force. It's hard, it's dirty, and above all it's dangerous."

"Every single day you could be sent on a suicide mission without warning and be expected to carry it out, because if you don't many, many more lives could be lost. But in it you can meet some of the strongest most capable shinobi this entire village has to offer."

"I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't do. This is a decision that you and only you need to make."

Standing up Anko walked towards her room. "I'm going to get dressed, and when I'm done you and me can go pick up Isaribi-chan from the training field I left her at."

She was about the enter her room when she turned around and walked back towards Naruto. Pulling him into a hug he said, "Whatever your decision is, I will fully support you as best I can."

Kissing him on his forehead, Anko retreated back to her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

XxXxX

The next day Naruto found himself outside of the ANBU headquarters.

Adjusting the pack on his shoulders Naruto took a deep breath and walked into the building.

XxXxX

And that's it for now! Sorry about the long delay between updates. That won't happen again (I hope...)

So what did you think? This chapter was focused on Naruto, but next chapter will focuse more on Isaribi.

Ja ne!


	13. Chapter 13

Foxfish

**Sorry about the wicked long wait for this chapter! **

**Midterms hit me and after that there was no time to write, all the way up to finals, ugh!!**

**But that's done now and here is the extra long awaited chapter!!!**

**Please tell me what you think of it and again I'm sorry that it took so long...If it's any consolidation I didn't even have time to play Warhammer Online, that's how swamped I was.**

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_

XxXxX

_Previously_

The next day Naruto found himself outside of the ANBU headquarters.

Adjusting the pack on his shoulders Naruto took a deep breath and walked into the building.

XxXxX

_Now_

'Preparing for the third chunin exams is hard work' though Isaribi grimly.

Going to bed at night Isaribi could feel every joint worn out and every muscle on fire.

Anko was putting Isaribi through the wringer, training her in advanced moves as well as going over all the basics and strategies with her.

Two weeks into her training she got up as usual at 5:00am and started to get ready for the day ahead. Getting dressed and eating a light breakfast Isaribi left for the training ground she and Anko had been using before even the first light of the day creped over the horizon.

The training ground was that same training ground where years earlier she and Naruto had met Kisame when he brought his genin team to compete in another chunin exams. Seeing that she was alone, Isaribi slipped off her coat and bandages before plunging into the water.

Relishing in the feel of swimming in the cool water Isaribi swam gentle warm up laps in a wide circle as she thought about how her training was progressing.

Anko had given her a chakra card to test her chakra type a week ago and it came back that she had an affinity towards water.

This came as no big surprise for Isaribi and Anko began to teach her some more powerful water jutsus.

But at the same time, Anko had also been going over some basic earth and even a fire jutsu. In Anko's own words, "Just because you have an affinity for water doesn't mean you should limit yourself. What would you do if you found yourself without any water at all?"

As Isaribi continued to swim around her thoughts drifted towards Naruto. So far this was the longest they have ever been apart, and Isaribi felt the void where he usually was.

According to Anko, the first month is called Hell's Month by the ANBU, filled with grueling training, nonstop drills, and very little sleep. Designed to wash out any of the potential ANBU trainees that didn't have the right stuff. -1-

Then after that, those who survive Hell's Month were considered trainees , allowed to go on basic missions and guard duties but still had to keep a grueling regime of training and evaluation by their ANBU superiors. During that time they were taught all that an ANBU needed to know, from tracking, to stealth, and even special ANBU fighting styles.

Those who couldn't keep up or failed just one of their examinations were drummed out but those who stuck through at the end of the year were officially recognized as members of the ANBU, assigned to their squad and allowed to add color to their masks.

Just thinking about the shear level of training and dedication required made Isaribi cringe, but she knew Naruto could handle it. The guy did love to train. But one thing that bugged Isaribi was why Naruto got chosen for the ANBU. The first night Naruto was gone she asked Anko and even she was stumped.

Naruto is strong for a genin, and with the Kyuubi he could overpower many people but he wasn't nearly at the level for the ANBU. Was it because during the fight with Gaara that he showed the ability to somewhat control the Kyuubi? If so do they plan on making Naruto use the Kyuubi for every fight? That just didn't make sense.

She even asked Yamato the next time she saw him and even he didn't know the full reason. According to a rumor he heard the Hokage took advice from his former student Jiraiya that Naruto was ready for higher level training, but those who think they understand Jiraiya disagree.

-2- Another rumor said that the Hokage's former rival Danzo originally suggested the idea and after seeing Naruto's latest battle decided to take the dead man's advice.

And others were saying that Naruto was put in ANBU to keep an eye on him and so that he didn't pull and 'Itachi' and try to kill half the village.

No one, not even Naruto knows the truth, but Isaribi really didn't have much to be concerned about, yet. Just the other night when Yamato came over, while he couldn't give any details, said that Naruto was holding his own and doing about average in the grueling training.

Finishing her last lap Isaribi felt a pang on regret as he left the water. It felt so natural and right that she didn't want to leave it. Worst still, lately when she's been getting out of the water she's been getting sore on her arms, legs, and even her hips, and not the kind of soreness she usual gets from staining herself too.

Nothing was there but the feeling kept on lasting longer and longer each day. Rubbing her right forearm, she could almost imagine that she felt what appeared to be a bump, but it diapered just as quickly.

Shaking her head Isaribi fully exited the water and shook the water from her hair. Hearing footsteps approaching, Isaribi looked up to see not Anko, as she expected, but Gin approaching her.

"Hey Isaribi-chan!" Gin said happily.

"Gin-kun" she replied back. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I'm here to train with you. Give you someone to fight. Haran-sansei and Anko-san should be coming soon. He said that he wanted to talk with her about something."

Nodding her head, Isaribi moved to the center of the clearing to meet Gin and the two began to lightly trade punches and kicks at each other.

"I heard about Naruto-kun getting into the ANBU" said Gin conversationally as he ducked Isaribi's roundhouse kick.

Isaribi almost slipped when he said this but kept on fighting.

"How are you holding up? I mean, you two practically spent every waking moment together and now he's just gone" said Gin with concern in his voice.

"It's...been an experience, getting used to being by myself, but truth be told we didn't spend all out time together. Often we would split up and do our own things before meeting again. And it's not like I'll never see him again. Once Hell's Month is over he will come home at night and on his days off so I'll get to see him then... Besides Anko said that we spent too much time together and to 'forge a proper relationship' we need to grow on our own."

When Isaribi said what Anko told her she said in a 'Anko like' voice that caught Gin off guard and caused him to start laughing. So preoccupied with laughing he failed to dodge out of the way as Isaribi kicked his legs out from under him.

Still laughing as he hit the ground he laughed out, "Warn someone the next you do that!"

Getting to his feet and dusting himself off he continued. "She has a point though. While long distance relationships can be hard, extremely close relationships can sometimes be even harder. I had the same problem with my former teammate, Rei. We did everything together but when we tried to have a relationship, there was nothing for use to talk about. Everything became, routine...needless to say, it didn't last."

"Oh...Gin, I'm sorry for making you bring that up I-"

"What do you have to be sorry for? We're still friends and it's not like she's dead, just can't be a shinobi anymore."

"But-"

"And besides, I'm the one who brought the topic up" said Gin, placing a hand on her shoulder. "How 'bout we step things up a little, eh?"

After that day training took on a different schedule. Isaribi still world wake up before first light, but instead of just training with Anko she would now also train with Haran and Gin.

With Gin there it gave her someone to spare with that was close to her level and the level of her opponents while Haran knew more water based jutsus that Anko.

She also began to develop a game plan for the exams. Her first opponent will be Hyuuga Hinata so Isaribi thought that Haran would be able to help her out, but she was mistaken...

"Haran-sensei, can you give me any inside tips on Hinata-san? I already know about the 360 x-ray vision of the byakugan, but is there anything else you can tell me?" asked Isaribi hopefully after one of their practice session.

Haran went stiff and silent for a moment before looking at Isaribi with calculating eyes, "No there isn't anything I can tell you."

"Ah, come on!" pouted Isaribi playfully. "Just a little insider's tip, she is a member of your clan and all..."

"No, and I will not discuss this again. We are done for today" he said before walking out of the clearing.

Isaribi huffed with indignation.

'What's his problem all the sudden?'

It wasn't until latter that night that Anko explained the situation to Isaribi.

With Hinata as Isaribi's first opponent, Haran was facing a conflict of interests. On one had he wanted his student to win, but on the other hand he wanted the heir to his clan to win. He was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He knew his job both as a teacher and a jonin of Konoha was to insure that all the genin under his command were trained to the best of their abilities but he was also loyal to his clan and by default Hinata.

XxXxX

As the days passed by her training continued and soon the day of the third chunin exams was here.

Isaribi got up before the sun even began to color the sky, excitement and nerves keeping her from getting a few more hours of sleep.

Making her way to the kitchen Isaribi was greeted by Anko and Yamato just preparing to make breakfast.

"You're up early" commented Anko as Isaribi walked in. "You sure you don't want to sleep a little more?"

"Can't, too nervous" said Isaribi flopping down at the kitchen table.

"Yea, I know what you mean" said Anko, "when I took my chunin exam I was so nervous that night I could barely sleep."

"And how did it go for you?"

"I stood out amongst all the genin present and defeated every one of them" she said with a smile.

"I was made a chunin and because of the skill I showed that Orochimaru first took me as his apprentice..." Anko's voice trailing off and the room becoming dead silent.

"I lost against my opponent" said Yamato as he joined the two ladies at the table with some toast for everyone. "luckily it was a fellow Konoha-nin so he didn't kill me. I had to wait till the next exam before I could advance."

Looking over at Isaribi as she picked at her food he smiled "Don't worry, you'll do great! You have more experience than any of the other genin and I know you are ready for the promotion. You just have to show the audience that too."

The room was quiet for a little as they ate their food and the sun began lighten the sky.

"Do you think Naruto-kun will be able to see the exam?" asked Isaribi looking up from her food.

"I don't know. Last I checked he was still trying to learn the necessary skills for the ANBU and his 'final' isn't for at least a week, so baring a full scale invasion he won't be able to leave the ANBU compound" said Yamato looking a little guilty.

"But even if he can't be there in person, I'm sure he will be rooting you on from where he is" said Anko with a smile.

"And betting on you too" added Yamato.

This made Isaribi look up at Yamato confused .

"What? It's sort of a tradition to bet on who will pass..." said Yamato.

"But I thought that was just for the people in the stadium?" asked Isaribi.

"Well, the ANBU and a few other place like to do it too" countered Yamato.

"Like who?"

"Well the professional casinos, street gamblers, hell even the coroner gets in on it."

"Ok, now you making it up" laughed Anko. "The coroner? Please."

"It's true" said Yamato getting all animated. "They take bets on the number of casualties. Go ask them yourself if you don't believe me."

"I think I just might" chuckled Anko.

From her seat Isaribi began to chuck a little the tension that was building up began to release itself and she finally began to be able to relax.

XxXxX

The relaxed feeling she had was able to last the entire morning and as she stood in the stadium listening to the perpetually coughing Hayate explain the rules butterflies began to dance in her stomach.

Isaribi had her bandages and cloak on, but she knew that when the battle stated they would come off and everyone in the stadium would be able to see her green scales. Not the most comforting of thoughts for her but as she felt the scrolls at her waste she grew confident again.

"Ok, first match is between Haruno Sakura and Nara Shikamaru! Everyone else please leave the arena floor!"

Making their way to the waiting both the genin looked down at the field as the two combatants squared off against each other.

From his seat in the stands, Kakashi watched with heated anticipation. For the past month he had been practically working with Sakura one on one, and just giving pointers and tips to Kiba and Sasuke or having them help Sakura too.

He could hardly wait to see how she would do.

Down on the field Hayate looked at both Sakura and Shikamaru before yelling "Begin!"

Immediately Shikamaru jumped backwards as Sakura let out a flurry of kunai and shuriken at him.

As he dodged the weapons he went through the hand seals and began to extend his shadow.

This is what Sakura had been waiting for and she threw a explosive ball high into the air between them.

Seeing this Shikamaru barely had enough time to close his eyes as the bomb exploded in a blinding white light and phosphorus flairs began to rain down on the field.

Seeing only spots Shikamaru jumped back, but not soon enough, as he was hit by a glancing kick from Sakura.

Sending his backwards with his arm numb and bruising quickly Shikamaru's vision began to return.

There were phosphorus flares burring all over the arena, playing havoc with the light and destroying the shadows as well as screwing up his vision. 'But how is she seeing me? This should be affecting her just as much?"

He got is answer as she closed in again. She had put sunglasses on, apparently they were hidden under her headband that was on her forehead.

'Clever, but two can play this' he though as he detonated a smoke bomb as she neared'

Unable to stop her forward momentum in time, Sakura found herself within the smoke and the shadows it created.

Quickly jumping up Sakura just avoided a darker shadow that reached out towards her and she exited the smoke.

Her phosphors flares were at half strength and as the smoke cleared she saw that Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen.

Quickly making two regular clones of herself Sakura began to scan the arena and move away from the wall and the forest, where the shadows were returning.

As the flares died down a shadow snaked its way from the trees and as Sakura jumped to avoid it, it suddenly connected to another shadow that came out of nowhere. With renewed strength it latched on to her and Sakura could feel herself losing control of her body.

From his hiding spot Shikamaru smiled. He was happy that the trick with his jacket actual worked and now it was time to wrap this up. Only thing now was to...

He didn't have time to finish his contemplation as a small bundle fell from Sakura's now open hand and reviled itself to be another phosphorus flare that destroyed his jutsu as it hit the ground.

'She must have been holding on to it the entire time, waiting for me to make her drop it'

Knowing that the gig was up he jumped from his spot just as Sakura made it to him. But instead of running away he did something different. Moving forward, Shikamaru took advantage of a gap in her attack and laughed an attack of his own.

Aiming for pressure points, Shikamaru jammed both is hands into her arm pits to get at the pressure points there before she could repulse him.

Backing away from him, her arm feeling numb Sakura swung at him with her left arm, but it was sluggish and uncoordinated, allowing him to easily avoid it.

Attempting to capitalize on this, Shikamaru grabbed onto her arm, but before he could do anything, she was replaced with a log.

Thinking quickly, Shikamaru jabbed a kunai into the ground just as a pair of hands were reaching up to get him before jumping away.

Sakura emerged from the ground looking battered as her left hand bleed profusely from the kunai logged in it.

"Give up Sakura-chan, I have you bet" said Shikamaru lazily.

"Not on your life" said Sakura with a smile as she pulled out a red bag and threw it up in the air.

Thinking it was another flare, Shikamaru closed his eyes only to find that there was no flash. Instead was greeted by stars in front of his eyes as Sakura landed a chakra enhanced punch directly to his face.

Feeling teeth come loose Shikamaru got up an looked at Sakura who was frozen in place.

"Capture, successful" he said as he spit some blood out, with Sakura mirroring his movements.

Taking a deep breath Shikamaru said, "Still won't give up?" Reviving nothing but a glare from Sakura he sight, "Oi, proctor, I give up."

Silence descended the stadium only broken by Choji crying out "But you've got here where you want her!"

"I need a team for this to work and I'm tired so I give up." Shikamaru said lazily as he rubbed his neck, Sakura still mirroring him.

"Winner, Haruno Sakura!"

XxXxX

Up in the stands the Hokage sat next to the Fire Lord. While the other villages might have sent diplomats none of the leaders showed up due to the fact that only Konoha shinobi were in the exam. While it did worry him about the news he was hearing from Suna, about finding out that their Kazekage had been killed and that they were blaming Oto he could hardly let that distract him on a day like today. So the Oto and Suna 'surprise' attack had been foiled by their jinchuuriki's impatience. Oh well, best play the role of the oblivious friend who didn't realize you contemplated trying to kill him.

"They both seem skilled for their age, but I don't understand Hokage-dono is why the boy gave up like that?" asked the Fire Lord next to him.

"It's because of his clans ability. While great for working with a team it doesn't work as well individually."

"Would you say that either one is chunin material?"

"From what we saw today and from what I've heard, Nara Shikamaru is a tactical genius well suited for the role of a chunin. But this match was such that that genius was hard to spot. It might have been due to Haruno Sakura also being extremely intelligent. I can see the boy as a chunin but I will wait a little bit more before deciding about the girl."

Pausing their conversation they heard Hayate call out, "Next match is Hyuuga Neji vs. Rock Lee!"

XxXxX

Down on the field the two team mates squared off.

"Today I will prove to you that I am stronger!" cried Lee.

"Don't be foolish Lee, you are fated to be beaten by me" as his byakugan activated.

Smiling Lee said, "Maybe so, but you never know until you try!"

"BEGIN!" shouted Hayate

Not wasting a second Lee rushed at Neji and the two began to exchange a flurry of blows before Lee jumped back with a smile.

"You're as strong as ever, so let's take this up a notch!" said Lee as he unbuckled his leg weights.

In a flash Lee was gone and from the crowds perspective Neji was exchanging a flurry of blows all around him with a faint shadow.

Finally having enough of this, Neji cried out "**Kaiten!**" as he spun around creating a vortex of chakra with him.

Moving away from the spinning vortex, Lee kneeled on the ground a little out of breath and looking a little worn out. Burses could be seen where Neji landed hits against him with his jyuuken and Lee watched as Neji stopped rotating and faced him in a defensive posture.

The crowed was silent. Even for most of the ninja in the crowed they couldn't keep up with what just happened. Kakashi could, but only because he had his sharingan out.

"Guy, you've created two monsters" Kakashi said with both aw and a little admiration in his voice.

"They burn passionately with youth! SHOW US WHAT YOU'VE GOT!!!!"

Back on the arena floor the two teammates reactions to their sensei was completely opposite. Neji scowled even more while Lee grew even more exited.

"I've been training the developing this attack just for you Neji-kun. I hope you like it" he said as he began to unravel his arm wraps.

Standing up and doing what looked like a flex, Lee unlocked the first chakra gate, and then, much to Neji's astonishment, disappeared.

The next thing that Neji knew what that he was flying up into the air and Lee was right behind him.

Neji tried to counter him, but Lee wrapped him up in the bandages and they both went spinning into the ground.

Slamming Neji head first into the ground Lee leapt away just in time and looked at the creator were his teammate once was, but finding it empty.

Hearing the ground crack underneath him, Lee quickly jumped away as Neji emerged spinning a Kaiten.

"You're attack would have killed anyone else, but all it did was jumpstart my Kaiten for me. Like I said before, you are destined to lose this match."

Not even bothering to reply Lee just stood up and in quick succession released one chakra gate after another. His skin turned red and the power began to flow off of him.

Not waiting for Lee to finish whatever he was planning, Neji quickly launched an attack, reaching Lee by the time the fourth gate was open.

Hitting Lee square in the center of the chest, Neji was shocked that there was apparently no damage done and was blasted into the air.

In the air even his byakugan and all his skills couldn't see Lee as he was bashed around before being sent crashing into the opposite wall of the stadium.

Coughing up blood and feeling that the majority of his bonds were broken Neji slipped into unconsciousness as the still red lee landed in front of him.

The power fading from him, Lee just stood there in front of Neji as Hayate and the medics rushed out.

"The winner is-" Hayate was about to say before he noticed Lee. Standing their his eyes were rolled back into his head and blood could be seen coming out of the corner of his mouth. A large hole was seen in his jump suit in the center of his chest and the skin underneath was an ugly purple color.

Quickly calling for another team of medics, Hayate announced "Draw due to double knock-out!"

XxXxX

Up in the stands Guy quickly made is was down to the medical center as people began to talk about what they just witnessed.

'That's the chunin exams for you. A contrived reason for teammates to try their hardest to kill each other. And by the looks of it, one or both might have succeeded.'

"Next up, Mako Isaribi vs. Hyuuga Hinata!"

Hearing this, Kakashi perked up a little, 'Let's see how this will turn out.'

XxXxX

Down in the arena to two girls paired off against each other.

Hinata looked a little hesitant but quickly put on a stoic appearance as she faced Isaribi, her byakugan already active

"Begin!"

Taking the initiative, Hinata quickly launched a series of attacks trying to bring Isaribi down.

Countering the attacks Isaribi suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Hinata tangled up in Isaribi's jacket.

Quickly ducking, Hinata just avoided Isaribi fist, but the moment she hesitated when she got clear of Isaribi's jacket clearly cost her a foot in the stomach that send her skidding on the ground.

Quickly chasing after her, Isaribi was forced to dough the shurikens as Hinata righted herself.

Backing away Isaribi ran through here options. The problem was that there wasn't enough water on the arena floor. No worries.

Grabbing the two scrolls from the waist Isaribi slid her blood over them before slamming them both into the ground.

The ground all around the arena began the bulge and crack and torrents of water began to erupt from geysers in the ground before coming back down as a heavy rain.

If it was anyone but a Hyuuga or Naruto and Isaribi, the heavy rain would have obscured their vision, but no such luck for Isaribi.

Hinata rushed towards Isaribi, ignoring the muddy ground and the ever growing pools of water but had to quickly dodge as Isaribi began to unleash water jutsu after water jutsu upon her, or more specifically, water bullet no jutsu.

Similar to her water blast no jutsu, this one added a spin to the ball of water, making it more accurate and more deadly.

To blasts came close to hitting Hinata but she was able to neutralize then before they hit.

Going through more hand seals, Isaribi made the water in the pool she was in to form a super fast ribbons that moved so fast that the water became sharper than a razor, and deadly accurate too.

Dodging the narrow streams of water Hinata felt one of them cut through her shirt and the skin underneath. Gritting her teeth Hinata ran through her own hand seals before thrusting her hands out in front of her.

Following her movements, the water pools closest to her pushed out as a wave towards Isaribi, forcing the girl to move out of the way or be flattened by a wall of water.

Using her being off balance to her advantage Hinata rushed at Isaribi and quickly landed a series of jyuuken strikes all over her body. But to her dismay, the Isaribi in front of her turned into water.

Soon Hinata found herself surrounded by five Isaribi's and quickly she intercepted all of them and turned them back into water.

But they served their purpose by distracting Hinata long enough for the real Isaribi to get close enough.

With a chakra enhanced screech of her sonar, Isaribi burst one of Hinata's ear drums, disorienting her before moving in to deliver a flurry of punches.

Hinata tried to defend herself but was overwhelmed and soon Isaribi had her pined to the ground in the mud and the pools of water.

The two struggled like that for a while, rolling around, much to the delight of the males and some of the females in the audience before Isaribi had Hinata thoroughly pined where her head in a pool of water.

Isaribi waited for Hinata to stop struggling a bit before pulling the girls head out of the water and securing her hold on coughing girl.

Seeing that the fight was over and Hinata still trying to dislodge the water that worked its way into her lungs, Hayate shouted, "Winner, Mako Isaribi!"

XxXxX

From their seats Anko and Yamato smiled and cheered for Isaribi as she exited the arena.

"That was certainly a good match" smiled Anko.

"Yes it was, let's hope that it showed off her skills to the judges" said Yamato glancing up at the Hokage's booth.

Anko was going to say something else when Hayate called out, "Next match Haruno Sakura Vs Aburame Shino!"

XxXxX

Down on the arena floor Shino and Sakura faced off against each other.

'Ok, his bugs can eat chakra so I have to get him before that can happen' though Sakura as she prepared to fight, her left hand still sore even after the medics were able to heal the wound

"Begin!"

Leaping towards Shino, Sakura sent a roundhouse kick strait to his head. Shino attempted to parry it with his arm but Sakura pushed her chakra behind it and both his arm and her foot connected with his head.

But instead of being sent flying backward Shino exploded into a mass of bugs that quickly swarmed over Sakura.

Emerging from his hiding spot underground a couple of feet away Shino looked at the struggling Sakura as his bugs swarmed all over her.

"Give up Sakura-san, you've lost-" Shino was saying when Sakura exploded into a log and his bugs started to move ... behind him!

Quickly turning Shino grabbed Sakura's fist with both hands right as it was about to collide with his head, wincing slightly as he felt the impact of Sakura's chakra enhanced punch.

He only needed to hold her for a few seconds as the swarm of bugs began to approach from behind him and more began to crawl from under his skin.

Grinning Sakura used her free hand and began to form hand seals.

Shino remembered what had happened during her match in a preliminaries and tried to dodge out of the way, but Sakura's other hand held firmly onto his arm.

Taking a deep breath Sakura released three small fireballs which Shino dodged by tilting his head, but they weren't aimed at him.

The three fireballs collided with his incoming bug swarm, burring most of them to a crisp and scattering the rest.

Wincing as he both felt and heard the death cry of his precious kikai, Shino left himself open for Sakura to bring her knee right up into his groin in an attempt to incapacitate him.

Doubling over Shino made it appear that he was falling before he used his leverage and superior weight to flip Sakura around and slam her into the muddy ground behind him. Slamming his knee into her back Shino pined her and released all of his remaining bug onto her.

Sakura let out a cry of pain and began to struggle ever more desperately as she felt the bugs bite into her and her chakra began to be drained.

She felt her energy leave her and soon darkness crept into the back of her eyes before she passed out completely.

"Winner, Aburame Shino!" called out Hayate as medics carrying the unconscious Sakura away and one went to Shino.

"The final match will be between Mako Isaribi and Aburame Shino in 15 minutes" Hayate called out before exiting the arena.

XxXxX

From his seat Kakashi got up with a smile. He was proud that Sakura had even made it this far and while he did expect her to become a chunin this was a valuable learning experience and she had grown tremendously from it.

'Well there's always the next exam in six months...'

Getting up he began to move town towards the medical room, but stopped and turned around.

"You two coming to see your teammate?" he asked looking at Kiba and Sasuke sitting next to each other in seats near his.

"Sure, why not" said Kiba as he got up.

"Fine" huffed Sasuke.

'Now to only get these two up to par too...'

XxXxX

Shino and Isaribi stood facing each other waiting for their match to begin.

Shino looked like his previous fight had never happened and Isaribi was standing before him without her jacket on.

"You two ready?" asked Hayate as he looked at the two before raising his hand.

"Final match of the chunin exams, Mako Isaribi and Aburame Shino...Begin!"

Both jumped back and began forming hand seals.

The standing water in two of the pool on either side of Isaribi shot out in two narrow streams that cut through the wall of earth that Shino made to defend himself, but when the wall was down he was nowhere to be found.

Looking around Isaribi was caught off guard as a Kunai sailed from the trees and impacted against her shoulder.

But instead of bleeding or even falling over, Isaribi collapsed into a pool of water.

Silence descended upon the arena floor and the people in the stands edged forward to see what was going on. Both of the combatants were hidden from view.

From one of the former geysers Isaribi made her way into a series of tunnels that her water scrolls created.

From what she observed with the water clone, Shino was hidden somewhere in the trees. His bug colony was low on strength so she could be assured that he would fight this match more cautious than the last.

Smiling to herself she began to move towards the direction of the trees in the underwater tunnel, relying on her sonar to tell her where to go.

If she remembered correctly there were at least two geyser holes in the trees, but Shino would also know this too.

From his hiding spot in the trees Shino listed to the reports that his bugs where brining him. They had lost track of the female kikai's scent which meant that she was somewhere underwater.

'I've laid traps around those two geysers, so where will she come up?'

For five minutes it appeared as if nothing was happening when Shino started to notice the accumulation of fog.

'So that's her game' Shino though as the fog increased, becoming thick and coming up to near the tops of the trees.

'this arena is helping her out, allowing the fog to accumulate faster and not disperse.'

Suddenly two simultaneous explosions rocked the trees as the traps by the geysers in the forest detonated.

Turning to face the explosions Shino almost missed hearing the sound of kunai whizzing through the air, but they weren't targeting him.

As each kunai landed in the forest the explosive tag attached to them detonated and Shino was forced to flee is hiding spot as the trees splintered and collapsed all around him.

Quickly running to the wall, Shino avoided the shuriken that were thrown at him from the different pools of water and quickly began running up the wall until he was well above the fog.

Crouching there vertically along the wall Shino contemplated his next move. While the fog would hamper her vision just as much as his own, it was an environment she was used to. An idea came to Shino and he used a replacement jutsu to replace himself with a piece of one of the fallen trees.

Isaribi was waiting for Shino to come down, but when only a splintered log came crashing down she scanned to fog around her. She had a few water clones made and had them scattered around the arena floor when she heard the splash of one of her water clones being dispersed. -3-

Crouching low to the ground and listening with all of her senses, Isaribi waited for Shino to approach.

Two more splashes were heard, one was able to put up a little bit of struggle before being taken down helping to pinpoint Shino's location. But how was he finding her clone's so easily?

Her answer came as she caught a glimpse of one of Shino's bugs landed on her shoulder before diapering into her shirt.

She didn't have to wait long before she picked up the slight movement of Shino approaching from her left, as well as the sound for bugs approaching from behind and her right.

When Shino got to where the female but was telling him was Isaribi all he found was the poor bug floundering in a pool of water.

Cautiously Shino began move away, but not fast enough as a weighted chain lashed out from a nearby pool of water and wrapped around his torso.

With a grunt he fell onto his back and started to be dragged towards the water.

If he was taken into the water, the fight would be over, so Shino struggled with all his might and sent is bugs along the length of the chain.

However, the source of the chain was underwater, shielding Isaribi from attack, and Shino was dragged into the pool of water.

For the most part, the pool only consisted of a couple of inches of standing water, but he felt his head and the back of his neck go other a lip.

Shino struggled to be able to bring his hands into a usable position, but they were pinned tightly against his body.

"Surrender" came Isaribi's voice in his right ear as he felt the prick of a kunai against the back of his neck.

As the fog began lift the audience got a clear view of what was happening. From their perspective Shino was just laying on a pool of water and tied up in a chain when he called out,  
"I surrender."

Nodding from his position along the wall Hayate called out, "Winner, Mako Isaribi!"

The chain around Shino loosened allowing him to get up and to the surprise of the audience allowed Isaribi to climb out of the pool of water behind him.

XxXxX

Sarutobi, The Fire Lord, and the various other nobles and judges gather around a table.

"What about Haruno Sakura?" one judge asked.

"Intelligent and resourceful, she does have the qualifications of becoming a chunin."

"But she does lack a variety of moves and chakra reserves" said one diplomat from her seat.

"Yes, but being a chunin is not about power level, it's about ability to lead genin and other chunin into combat. Her record speaks for her intelligence the two fights we witnessed shoes not only her skill but also her resourcefulness."

"I agree with that assessment" said the Hokage, "and the same can be said for Nara Shikamaru."

"So you will make them both chunins?" asked the Fire Lord.

"Yes, but I will tell them that they both need to continue to grow stronger and increase their repertoire of moves."

"Moving on, I can say we can pass over Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Hyuuga Hinata. While skilled in their own right, they do not have the material to lead troops into combat yet" said the Hokage to a course of agreements from all present in the room.

"That just leaves us Mako Isaribi and Aburame Shino" said one of the nobles.

"Both clearly have a firm grasp on tactics as both their battles showed. Especially the last battle, as viewed by our Hyuuga friend here." said the noble nodding to a member of the Hyuuga clan next to her. They both commanded their troops, the bugs for Shino and the water clones for Isaribi remarkably well, and they both used the available environment to their advantage."

"Agreed, so with no objections those two will also be made into chunin?" asked the Hokage, expecting no one to counter him.

"So it's settled, Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, and Mako Isaribi will be made into chunin of Konoha."

XxXxX

-1- Based of the "Hell Week" that US Navy Seals go through at the begging of their training.

-2- I had Danzo get executed because he was hiding and using Root for anterior motives. This was briefly mentioned before when I said that Sai is on team 8 in chapter #6. Please note that I had to edit that part a couple times, so if you read that chapter when it first came out you might have missed it.

-3- I'm going with the idea the water clones don't transmit their experience back to the user, only shadow clones do.

Longest chapter yet!

Sorry again for the wait for this to come out, I wanted to work out all of the details and school had been getting in the way...

So what did you think?

Ja ne!


	14. Chapter 14

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_

XxXxX

_Previously_

"So it's settled, Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, and Mako Isaribi will be made into chunin of Konoha."

XxXxX

That night the newly promoted chunin along with their friends and family gathered together at a local restaurant to celebrate the end of the chunin exam and their recent promotions.

"To the new Chunin of Konoha! May they live long and successful!" cheered Yamato lifting his glass up to the resounding cheer of a responses from those around.

"You know, Shikamaru" said Asuma nudging his student next to him with a smile, "this means I get to place more responsibilities on you."

"Troublesome" muttered Shikamaru causing those around him to break out laughing.

"Don't worry son," said Shikaku. "It could be worse. True you have extra responsibilities to your team and more will be asked of you, but you can handle it, and the pay raise is quite nice..." he said with a smile.

This same conversation was repeating itself all over the restaurant, between Kakashi and Sakura, Shibi and Shino, and Anko and Isaribi.

As the night wore on, people began to leave until only Team Seven remained at the restaurant along with Yamato, Anko, and Isaribi.

"Shouldn't you be heading home too?" asked Kakashi looking over at Yamato before his eyes fell upon a passed out Anko.

"I don't know sensei, I could say the same to you too" he said gesturing to a sleeping Kiba and droopy eyes Sasuke.

"Well at least to girls seem to be enjoying themselves" gestured Yamato to Isaribi and Sakura who were talking friendly.

"Yea, that surprised me. I mean, when they first meet on that mission to Wave, Sakura wasn't the...nicest person to them" said Kakashi carefully.

"I heard. But you know what they say 'He who fights with me is my brother'. I'm sure something like that happened between the two. Who knows, maybe this could be the start of a friendship?" said Yamato hopefully.

"That would be nice, I heard that she doesn't have that many friends her own age" said Kakashi. "Speaking of friends, I didn't see Naruto-kun at the party hear tonight. Is he out on a mission?"

"No, no. Didn't you hear sensei? Naruto was accepted into the ANBU and is currently undergoing basic training." Yamato said in a low voice, leaning in close to Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes widened "That was fast" glancing towards the two boys near him he said, "Best continue this at a later date."

The two men nodded, switching the conversation over to less sensitive topics. Before too long Yamato stood up.

"I think it's best that we call it a night, sensei." he said as he scooped up the still sleeping Anko into his arms.

"I think your right" said Kakashi as he woke Kiba and Sasuke up before motioning to Sakura. "I'll catch you latter."

XxXxX

"You have fun?" asked Yamato to the tired Isaribi who walked by his side. It was late at night so the streets were reasonably quiet, with the trio passing mainly other shinobi going to a fro on different tasks.

"Yes it was (yawn) fun. I never done something like that before."

The two walked in silence for a little bit before Isaribi spoke again.

"I was kinda hoping that Naruto would be able to be there too..."

"I know," replied Yamato, placing a free hand on her shoulder. "Unfortunately the basic ANBU training allows for no time to socialize and it could still be a couple of weeks before he is able to come home for a little while..."

"...but he did ask me to pass on a message to you" Yamato said with a smile as he saw Isaribi face brighten up. "He said congratulations, he's extremely happy for you and proud of what you were able to do. He also sends his love and lots of wet kisses!" smiled Yamato.

Laughing while blushing, Isaribi asked, "Did he really say that last part?"

"Well...not in those exact words, you know how he is with saying stuff like that, but he sends them to you anyway."

"That's...fishsticks for you..." came a groan in Yamato's arms. "I remember when...you two were little...he always hang out with you...no...why am I wearing...fishsticks..."

With a thunk, Anko once again passed out in Yamato's arms.

Isaribi barley contained her laughter while Yamato just smiled.

Soon they were at their apartment and a three of them went to bed.

XxXxX

The next morning came with a grown from Anko. Years of drinking helped her avoid the worse of her hangover, but now she felt all sticky and gross.

Untangling herself from her sheets Anko groggily got up and went into the bathroom to grab a shower.

When she emerged from the shower and got dressed, she found Yamato waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Morning"

Anko grunted in reply, grabbing a cup of coffee and joining him at the table.

The two sat in silence for a moment as they both drank their coffee.

"What are your plans for today?" asked Yamato setting his mug down and leaning back in his chair.

"Thinking about taking it easy, I've got the next few days off...Why?" she asked with a smile as she ran her finger across the lip of her cup.

"Well, I believe Isaribi-chan wanted to shopping for some new mission cloths and I was hoping that you would be free...I wanted to meet up with Kakashi-sensei and talk with him for a little while" said Yamato taking a sip from his mug.

"Oh" said Anko, her face falling a little before picking herself back up, "Sure, it's been too long since me and her did anything like that together anyway."

"And besides" said a smiling Yamato, "I also have the next few days off..." glancing at the direction of Isaribi's room, he continued, both his and Anko's smiles growing, "And it looks like she won't be up for at least an hour."

"Oh, at least an hour" said Anko as she gestured towards Yamato.

XxXxX

Around noon Anko and Isaribi were both out of the house and down in the shopping district of Konoha. Isaribi was wearing her normal attire, but given that she recently was promoted to chunin, she felt that it warranted a change in clothing.

"What kind of cloths should I get?" asked Isaribi with a smile. "I mean, do I go with the traditional blue suite with the green vest or something different?"

"Well, that really depends" said Anko thinking about it. "It is preferred that regular shinobi dress in the regular uniforms that you see, but it's not necessary. The hire ranking shinobi can wear whatever they want as long as it works with their fighting style, and then of course there are the different clan and bloodlimit consideration that need to be made."

As they continued walking they passed a member of the Aburame clan.

"Take the Aburame for an example, because their bodies house insects they dress in those jackets to conceal their bodies and protect their insects. And the Hyuugas all wear something different too because of the treaty between their clan and the village that gives them a level of autonomy."

"And it also takes into account your fighting style. Look at me, I technically could wear regular cloths, but due to my higher rank and the types of moves I use, I can wear this" Anko stated gesturing to her fishnet covered body.

"Oh" said Isaribi thinking about what she just heard. "But what do I do? I'm not from a high ranking shinobi but I do have a bloodline."

"Then, I guess we could always modify the traditional uniform, that happens all the time too amongst the regular shinobi and the smaller clans. For you we want something that will allow you to function both on land and underwater for long periods of time."

Turning right into a shop, Anko continued talking. "First thing we should get is a proper fishnet suit for you. The ones you have are starting to fray and are not the best quality."

The shop they entered was full of nothing but fishnet clothing. From shirts and pants, to full body suites, wrist guards, and even forehead protector cloths. There was also a wide variety of the different types of fishnet. Some, like the one Isaribi had on right now were partially see through, while there were others that were more like Anko's suite that had a gray material under the black fishnet.

"You'll be wanting something like this" said Anko fingering the cloth that was like the one she was wearing. "This is made out of ninja wire, so it's strong and flexible and the cloth underneath is light but adds an extra layer of protection. This stuff acts a lot like chainmail, but at a fraction of the cost and is much better for stealth."

Pulling one of the suits off the rack Anko said, "Here, try this on."

Isaribi obediently went onto the dressing room and put the fishnet on.

"How does it Feel?" asked Anko who was standing by the dressing room door.

"It's tight, but it's very light...I feel really exposed, how do you wear almost nothing but this all the time?"

Laughing Anko responded, "Practice, now let's see what you look like."

Steeping into the dressing room, Anko looked Isaribi over. The fishnet body suit went down to her shins and halfway down her forearms.

"Well? What do you think? Think you could swim and fight in that?" asked Anko.

"Probably, but the arms are too restricting and the legs just feel weird. It's rubbing against my scales every time I move. Is maybe just a tank-top version and I will wear other cloths too? " said Isaribi nervously.

"Sure, sure let me see, a here it is, same size an everything" said Anko holding up the tank-top she found. "Now try this on and we will think about letting you wear something else" laughed Anko as she handed Isaribi the cloths.

'What did I get myself into? I should have gone shopping with Yamato-san instead...'

By the time they were done five hours later, Isaribi had her new mission cloths, and Anko also picked up a few items for herself, that were now in the multiple bags in her arms.

After looking though the available mission cloths and consulting what was appropriate for a chunin to wear, Isaribi picked out her outfit. She found a pair of tight black shorts that would be good in the water and allow free movement and she could attach her kunai holder to either leg.

For the top She found long dark blue tank-top tunic that that went down to her mid calf and slits in the sides at the bottom up to her midsection for free movement of her legs. Over that she would place her belt with equipment pouches and a scroll holster in the back.

She initially was thinking about also wearing her chunin vest, but after a quick trial run of wearing one underwater, she decided that, while the vest works fine for quick dips into the water, in prolonged dives it was too cumbersome. So instead she settled for a sash that contained a small pocket on the front and a small waterproof backpack on the pack.

"So how do I look?" asked Isaribi giving Anko a twirl to show off the clothes.

"Looks fine to me, now all you need is Haran to give it their ok it at your next team meeting."

"That shouldn't be a problem. He said yesterday that as long as I was dressed and could fight he would let me choose what to wear give the 'unique' environment that I operate in."

Smiling, Anko said, "That was nice of him. Well, now that the fun is all over, how about we get something to eat?"

"Sure" said Isaribi and as they turned to leave she thought, 'I wonder want Naruto is up to right now?'

XxXxX

At that very moment Naruto found himself found himself creeping through a muddy mash in the Land of Rice thanking god that his ANBU mask was filtering out the mud, or else he would have had to surface for air long ago.

His orders were clear and this mission was a sort of graduation test, to prove he had what it took to become a ANBU member and do the dirty work for the village.

Even before the chunin exams, the relations between Otokagaru and Konohagaru were never great, mutual enemies make the two allies. But with their invasion plan spoiled by Garra's premature rampage and the fact that Konoha knew about it, things were turning for the worst.

Lately, Oto shinobi were probing the border between the two countries and recently they killed a genin team and their chunin leader.

This was something Konoha could not stand and honor demanded a return action.

Naruto's mission was simple. While other Konoha shinobi spied on the village and collected intelligence he was to kill one of their teams so their bodies could be examined by Konoha scientists. He had backup if things got too heavy, but this was his final test to see if he could not only pull off destructive power but also the stealth and speed required of an ANBU member.

Using a jutsu to hide himself completely in the water, Naruto waited. Already some merchants and a few teams had passed by, but it was clear that he was to get a team that had some of Otokagaru's unique bloodlimits and devices.

Movement out of the corner of his eye. Another Oto team was coming up the path.

The bend in the road he was at was a perfect blind spot and ambush point, something that the Oto shinobi knew. But what they didn't realize was that their traps and alarms protecting it were disabled and an ANBU team was in ambush.

The leader of the Oto nins was dressed in the standard Jonin outfit (the cloths they dressed in when they invaded) but had what appeared to be a harp strapped to his back. Behind him came another shinobi similarly dresses but with his entire face covered in bandages and some strange devices on his ears. The last two where twin girls dressed in what appeared to be harlequin outfits with silver bells on their arms, legs, and feet.

(1) As they began to pass him, Naruto struck. Shuriken erupted from the water and from spring loaded traps in the trees, catching the first one off guard and killing him, but the second one who didn't even have eyes to see the attack easily avoided it and the two twins seamed to flow around the flying blades.

Jumping out of the water and charging at the bandaged one, Naruto struck out with his wazaki but the man was able avoid the attack before producing two black rectangular blades and attacking.

Nothing Naruto was doing seamed to hit the guy and soon the twins vaulted over the team mate to attack Naruto's back.

Four shadow clones where waiting for this and struck as soon as they landed, but the twin's bodies seemed to be almost liquid and blurry and they avoided the clones before they were able to take them out with simultaneous kicks.

'Genjutsu combined with some kind of fighting style. Is it using those bells or is this some kind of bloodlimit?' thought Naruto as he ducked under one of the square blades while blocking the other one with his own sword. The Oto nin's sword cut deep into Naruto's blade.

'This thing won't last long, and this guy seams to rely on his hearing for everything. Well, he won't be expecting this' thought Naruto as he let out a screech from his sonar.

The twins flinched but recovered quickly, racing towards Naruto, but their teammate wasn't so lucky.

Having never encountered someone who could produce a sonar screech, he was not able to shield his ears properly and he was sent reeling backwards, dropping his swords.

This was all the opportunity Naruto needed.

Slitting the man's throat and jumping behind him, Naruto used his body as a shield as the twins threw kunai at Naruto.

Running through the hand seals and waiting for the two to be right on top of him, Naruto thrust his right hand out before clenching his fist shut.

Mirroring his movement, a hand of rock shot out of the ground and grabbed hold of the twin on the right.

"Rin!" shouted the one still standing as she raced towards her trapped, but still alive sister.

Naruto didn't let her as he completed another set of seals and three bursts of water shot out at her from the lake.

She dogged two of them, but the third cut through the arm part of the rock hand holding her sister and hit her in the chest.

The blow lost power tunneling trough the rock but it still hit her with enough force that she was coughing up blood.

Not wasting time, Naruto threw a kunai at her, only to have her body disappear in a puff of smoke and replaced with a log.

Quickly turning around, Naruto saw both sisters right before him before they kicked him right in the neck and sent him into the water.

From their vantage point, the rest of Naruto's team watched. One of the members with a bear mask moved to jump in, but their leader with a lizard mask stopped them.

"Let's see what he will do"

The two twins waited on the shore for a moment before they jumped up into the air as a wave of water crashed into the shore.

Standing on top of one of the small trees near the river they looked down at the battle scene and for Naruto.

Seeing movement both sisters began to go through hand seals. One sister blew out a stream of air while the other one blew out a stream of fire.

Their attacks combined in mid flight, increasing their destructive power and washing the entire area in flames.

When the superheated flames hit the water, steam covered the area and soon covered the girls on their treetop perches.

Peering through the steam, they saw what appeared to be a badly burnt and limping Naruto retreating back to the water.

Not letting him escape, they jumped down after him.

The moment they hit the ground a dragon made of water came crashing into the sister on the left and before the other one could reacted, six Naruto's jumped out of the shallow pools of water on the ground (using a jutsu to hide in the water) and each one impaled her with their swords.

The last twin looked up, blood coming from a cut on her forehead and seeing double. Naruto was just about to finish her off when the rest of the Anbu team jumped in.

"Stand down Kitsune. We'll take this one back alive for interrogation" said the team leader. The other members of the team had two of the bodies, leaving the corps of the dead twin for Naruto to carry.

"Lynx, make it look like a landslide happened here" said the captain to the other team member as he bound and gauged their prisoner. "We're heading home."

XxXxX

With their extra baggage it took the team three days to return to Konoha, but once they were within the detection barrier surrounding Konoha, a fresh team took the bodies and the prisoner off of their hands and allowed them to head for debriefing.

For Naruto, debriefing took longer than usual. His captain pointed out every flaw and mistake in what Naruto did, but in the end said that Naruto performed satisfactory. This meant that Naruto was allowed to paint his mask.

It is a tradition that until an ANBU member completes their fist successful mission, they cannot paint their mask, and as Naruto took the paint brush, he contemplated what to do. Inspiration suddenly hit him as he took the red paint and created a swirl right over the face of the mask, just like the swirl he had on his cloths as a little kid.

'There, not perfect, but I like it' thought Naruto as he put the mask back on.

Leaning back in the chair, Naruto just sat there for a moment before he was addressed.

"Kitsune. Walk with me" said a man in a Tiger mask.

"From now on you will be my subordinate. I work directly for the Hokage, so you can consider any order I give you as coming directly from him. My code name is Tenzo. I hope we work well together."

"Yes sir" said Naruto looking up at Tenzo. 'Where do I recognize that voice from?'

"Well, you coming or not?" said Tenzo. Only then did Naruto realize he spaced out trying to figure who Tenzo was.

"The key to a good team is to be able to trust those who work both under you and above you" lectured Tenzo as they walked the deserted halls of the ANBU headquarters at one in the morning.

"We'll start tomorrow morning at Five, so you better get up in time, Naruto-kun."

"Yes sir- Hey!" shouted Naruto pointing at Tenzo accusingly.

"Haha, still haven't figured it out yet?" said Tenzo pulling off his mask slightly, revealing Yamato's face.

"Not that this changes anything. Here I am Tenzo and you are Kitsune. And just because I am dating the closest thing to an older sister you have..." Yamato said leaning in close, "I'm not above ruling through fear" he said in a creepy voice, making Naruto nervous.

"Well! Enough of that, there will be plenty of that tomorrow...er...in four hours! Better sleep here or we'll never get any rest."

For Naruto the next day came too quickly. Heading out to the practice yard with Tenzo, Naruto was given the introduction speech.

"Given your, unique, position you will not be placed on a single ANBU team. Instead, you will work under me, the one person who has the bloodlimit that can control the Kyuubi and who works directly under the Hokage. You will be assigned missions that fit your abilities and work with other shinobi, both ANBU and non on these missions as the situation calls for it. This all comes directly from the Hokage."

"But a good team is the key to any successful mission, so for the most part you'll be working with me and these two people." said Tenzo gesturing to the two people in the practice yard.

The man to the right in a sparrow mask with four back slashes on it was introduced first, "This is Kage, a skilled assassin, and this," gesturing to the girl next to him with six hair pins and a sword on her back "is Komachi. Both of them usually work as a duo but when the need arises, they work with me and now you on harder missions."

"Kage, Komachi, this is Kitsune. You'll be working with him on the occasions you need a larger team. Kitsune specializes in water attacks as well as...um how to politely put this. Kitsune, why don't you tell them your secret. They will need to know if they can work with you as a team."

Steeping forward, Naruto said, "Kage-san, Komachi-san, it's nice to meet you, and I hope we work well together. As for what Tenzo-san said, I am the jinchuuriki containing the Kyuubi."

"Well of course you are," said Kage bluntly. "How many guys in this village, or even the world have green scales instead of skin?"

"Not to mention the fox mask and the code name is a dead giveaway" added Komachi.

This remark earned a chuckle from the guys present before Tenzo cleared his throat.

"Well, as I explained to Kitsune already, while we are on duty, we have the masks and the code names...even if they superfluous. Now, down to business. While I would love to say that I called you out here just to meet the new team member and to have us do some team drills, that will have to wait. Suffice it to say use three have worked together in the past and I have worked with Kitsune, so we should be fine."

"The Hokage has given us a mission of vital importance. It appears the fourth Mizukage, Yagura(2), is losing grip on power and there is a possibility that he will be overthrown or that something has happened to him."

"Even though the Land of Water has not diplomatic ties with the other nations, if it were to collapse, war would spread. Worst yet is that in a desperate bid for power, he might commit his forces to war with his neighbors, including us."

"To make matters ever graver is that Yagura is the jinchuuriki containing the Sanbi. It is said he has control over the beast, but if he loses his mind... That is why you are coming, Naruto. There is a potential that one, if not more potential enemy jinchuuriki will be present."

"We will leave tonight at midnight and make all due hast to the cape. From there we will travel north to the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools. That will give us a close look into the Land of Water without getting too close (3)."

"You have the rest of the day to make preparations for this mission. Expect to be gone at the minimum of a month, and as long as three or more. Dismissed."

XxXxX

(1) He didn't use poison gases or some other mass affect jutsu because he wanted their bodies (mostly) intact and unaltered by any chemical agents the poison would introduce.

(2) go the Naruto Wiki to see what he looks like if you are not caught up with the manga yet...

(3) I don't actually know where the land of whirlpools was/is so I'm saying it's close to the Land of Water, but between it and the Land of Fire

Hey everyone! I'm not dead!! Sorry it's been a while...again...since the last update, but have you ever been writing so much that you just can't stop? Yea, that happened. Not only do I have this chapter but most of the next chapter is done too, I just had to figure out where to spit the chapters...

Also, before anyone complains, this was more of a filler chapter, things will start moving very soon, including the increasing romance between Naruto and Isaribi as well as the plot of the story.

Another announcement: For those who are readers of my other story "Deceiving Appearance" I have NOT forgotten about that story! I have the fate of all the Jinchuuriki plotted and for the most part, written out...What I'm stuck on is how to get the battle between the good guys and Akatsuki started/how it will play out. Have patience please, I will get it out soon...

Anyways, the next chapter will be here very soon! So please tell me what you think!!

Ja ne!


	15. Chapter 15

Foxfish

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

XxXxX

Ages:

Naruto and Isaribi and the Rooky Nine: 12

Anko: 22

Yamato: 24

Kakashi: 26

Third Hokage: 70

Gin- 15

Hyuuga Haran- 23

XxXxX

'Thought'

"Speaking"

"**Jutsus/Demon speaking"**

"_Fish speaking"_

XxXxX

**NOTE**: I have edited the previous chapter to change Naruto's ANBU name after some of my readers pointed out how it didn't match with everyone else's name. So now his ANBU name is Kitsune instead of fox…

It's kinda funny, this is what I wanted, but when writing the last chapter I suffered a mental laps and thought that Kyuubi meant Fox…my bad, lol! ^_^

XxXxX

_Previously_

"You have the rest of the day to make preparations for this mission. Expect to be gone at the minimum of a month, and as long as three or more. Dismissed."

XxXxX

_Now_

The sun had just started to rise as Yamato and Naruto entered the apartment.

Placing their gear down on the table the two sat across from each before going through their equipment, fixing any cracks they found and sharpening their blades.

When Naruto got to his sword he looked at it in dismay. The blade was almost cut cleanly in half by the Oto-nin.

"It looks like I will need to stop by the armory before we leave to get a new sword..." said Naruto.

Looking up from scroll Yamato had out, he said, "No need." Reaching into his bag he pulled out another sword and handed it to Naruto, "As team leader I always have extras of everything, just in case."

"Thanks!" Naruto smiled as he took the sword and began to sharpen the blade.

Soon the sound of Anko getting up and entering the kitchen diverted the attention of Yamato and Naruto.

"Naru-kun!" Anko yelled excitedly, rushing over and bearing him into her chest. "Oh you've been gone so long and I've had to do all the cleaning myself!" she said with fake tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Good to see you too, Anko" Naruto was able to gasp out.

"Anko-chan, he does need to breathe…" Yamato said with a smile, "And I need him in working order."

"What, why? Oh, don't tell me! You two are going on a mission together?! How fun! ... But he just got back!"

"It's not my fault" said Yamato holding his hands up defensively. "His skills are needed for the mission! If there was someone else I would have chose them, but as it stands he is the best person to take."

"Oh fine. It's not like I could stop you too either…So..." Anko mused releasing Naruto from her death grip. "When do you leave?"

"Tonight, and it will a month or more to complete."

"Oh joy!" said Anko sitting down at the table with a smile.

Looking directly at Naruto with a smile she continued, "Won't Isaribi-chan be upset that you'll be gone so long."

Naruto stopped what he was doing an looked up with wide eyes, "Oh…um…"

Before he could come up with something to say he was interrupted by the door to Isaribi's room opening.

"Anko-chan, are you talking to yourself agai- NARUTO-KUN!"

With a crash Isaribi launched herself at Naruto and tackled him to the ground.

"You're back! How did training go? Learn anything neat? Make any new friends? Your never going to believe what happened with me, wait till I tell you about the chunin exams!"

As Isaribi began telling Naruto about what she's been up to, Anko turned to Yamato.

"They really didn't waste any time with him did they? Not even a day's break after becoming a full member in the ANBU…"

"It was a sudden mission, and he is really one of the best shinobi in the ANBU for it."

"Because of…you know who?" Anko said in a whisper, glancing at Naruto as he continued to talk with Isaribi.

"Partially" said Yamato with a shrug. "But his other abilities will be far more useful than that, I hope…"

"Well, take care of him…and take care of yourself too."

"I will, you don't have to worry."

"Who says I'm worried?" said Anko with a smile. "Now finish up packing because I have a going away present for you."

XxXxX

As midnight fast approached, Naruto and Yamato made their final preparations for the upcoming mission. Both of them had spent the day relaxing in their own ways with Naruto down by the lake and Yamato resting at the house.

Anko left the house late in the morning to go to work as did Isaribi who had a team meeting to attend with Haran and Gin.

Isaribi had already returned are retired for the night. She had wanted to stay up later, but her team had a B class escort mission first thing in the morning, so she needed to rest up for it.

Turning to Naruto as he put on the last of his ANBU gear, Yamato asked, "You ready for this?"

Nodding his head, Naruto replied, "Yes sir."

"Good. Remember don't do anything stupid out there. This is a reconnaissance mission and we don't want it to be the start of a war. And remember, in the field I am you superior officer. You will listen to the orders I give you, is that understood?" asked Yamato giving Naruto the evil eye.

Gulping slightly, Naruto nodded his head, "Yes sir"

"Good!" said Yamato with a smile as he put his mask over his face. "Well, let's get this show on the road!"

XxXxX

After meeting up with Kage and Komachi, it took the team three days to make it to the cape, and another day and a half to travel to the ruins of the Land of Whirlpool by boat.

During that time, Tenzo had the team do some basic team building exercises. Nothing big or elaborate, just enough to get everyone used to each others presence. Kage seemed fine with working with Kitsune, and Komachi had every outward appearance of being able to work fine with him too, but weather this was genuine or just her ANBU training acting as shield for her real thoughts, even Tenzo couldn't tell.

Reaching the Land of Whirlpool, they were greeted with a sight to behold.

The land of Whirlpool wasn't so much one single island, but dozens of larger bodies of land and maybe even hundreds of smaller rock formations.

In-between these islands and rock outcroppings the warm current from the south mixed with the colder currents from the north, creating many whirlpools from which the land got it's name from. As they circled around one of the larger islands, Tenzo pointed out a large bay who's mouth was protected by a raging whirlpool, leaving a narrow channel from which a boat could enter.

"That's the location of the former shinobi village of Whirlpool, Uzugakure no Sato. We can use its ruins as a base camp. Kitsune, if you could guide to boat into the harbor?"

Nodding, Naruto jumped into the water. He could feel the tremendous current from the whirlpools but there were also some a calm spots he might be able to cross. Waiting for a little bit, Naruto wanted to see the effect of the tide would have on the whirlpools. From his experience, some whirlpools are almost continuous, while others are created by the tide or randomly by the shifting water.

Sure enough, as the low tide moved in the whirlpool decreased in strength, covering the center of the bay and leaving a good portion calm.

'Damn, at high tide this thing probably covers the enter mouth of the bay!'

Guiding the boat through the bay and under an archway of rocks, the ANBU team came upon the ruins of Uzugakure.

Steep cliff walls surround the village on all sides and a good portion of the village appeared to have been carved directly out of rock outcroppings in the bay or resting on pylons.

The buildings were covered in lichen, but the signs of battle were still evident. Collapsed buildings, rusted weapons of all types, and the occasional parts of skeletons littered the city's remains.

Quickly scouting around the team found nothing suspicious before they set up camp in on of the buildings carved out of the rock near the main harbor.

"It was about thirty years ago that this land was abandoned." Said Tenzo looking out at the remains of the village. "At the time they were one of Konoha's strongest allies and when the village fell, the few survivors came to the Land of Fire and Konoha."

"As you will be able to see in closer detain soon, the Land of Whirlpool relied heavily on the sea for it's survival. The soil here is hard and rocky with only the hardiest plants surviving... At the time they were at war with but Kirigakure and their ally at the time Yukigakure. Similar to the way the Land of Water is set up, the Land of Whirlpool was controlled by Uzugakure and lead by the Uzukage. Also, most of the people in this nation had something to do with their shinobi village in some way or another, with many shinobi clans living outside the village walls. This heavy militarization and support for their village led to Kirigakure and Yukigakure to wipe out most of the nation, with only a few survivors making it to the Land of Fire alive."

"But enough of the history lesson. If you want to know more there are plenty of public records at the library at home. We'll take watches tonight, and tomorrow morning we'll begin or mission. Kitsune, you have first watch, Kage has second, Komachi has third, and I'll take the last watch."

The team split up, with Kage placing some traps by the door before going to sleep and Naruto jumped to the roof of the building and hiding in the shadows.

Looking out over the village and the ruined buildings he noticed the mixture of architecture styles, with the square building that are seen in Konoha and the circular buildings and towers seen traditionally in Kiri architecture.

'So this is where my mother was from...' thought Naruto as he looked out over the dead city.

During his debriefing on his first mission, the Hokage had felt Naruto ready to learn about his parents. It hit him hard, but he was glad that he now knew the truth. That is probably why he chose to paint his fox mask the way he did, in memory of the symbol of the Land of Whirlpool...

"**You're not going to cry on me, now are you?**" came a voice deep within Naruto.

'No. I was just thinking that it's kinda sad that this place turned out like this.'

"**Yea, yea, humans killing each other for their own reasons, boohoo**"

'You could be a little bit nicer about it'

"**Why? I didn't do this...then again I guess I should lament the loss of this place. For if it was never destroyed, your mother would never had gone to Konoha and given birth to you. That bastard wouldn't have had anyone to seal me in and I would be free and enjoying myself right now.**"

'Or he would have used someone else'

"**True. But then you, if you even existed, would not be in the situation you are in now, Mr. Failed Science Experiment.**"

'One which you had a hand in.'

"**True, but at least I made you look pretty. The other guy would have made you look horrible, HAHAAH!**"

'Whatever'

"**Well. I have a feeling things are going to get very interesting soon**" said the Kyuubi with a smile.

'What, what does that mean?' no response, 'Kyuubi? Kyuubi? Damn you fur ball, giving me cryptic messages and not explaining them.'

Naruto refocused on the village in front of him. He too felt something was fast approaching, but he didn't know what it was...

XxXxX

The next morning, the team made their way over land to the east and after a few island jumping, made it to the edge of the Land of Whirlpool that faces the Land of Water.

The Land of Whirlpool may have been mostly abandoned, but that didn't mean that the country was completely deserted. A little ways north on a small island, fishermen from the Land of Water and the Land of Surf had set up a little shanty town. There they could safely dock for repair and supplies before continuing to fish or to wait out storms. Even some passenger ships traveling these waters stopped there to take shelter from storms too. But like every lawless port, there were also pirates, thieves, and outlaws who were wanted everywhere else.

"Kage, you and Komachi scout around the port to pick up information from the locals about what is going on in the Land of Water. Go as pirates or fishermen and try not to attract attention. I'll set up the observation post here to watch the shipping lanes for Kiri's navy. Kitsune, you scout out in the water. Get close to the shore and see if you can detect what might be happening. Keep an eye out for submersibles, Kiri supposedly has a few."

They nodded and each went their separate way, with Naruto into the water getting up close to the Land of Water.

This cycle went on for two weeks, Kage and Komachi passed themselves off as two criminals on the run and found some work in the only bar in the town, getting information from the patrons, Tenzo making detailed observations of the Kiri naval traffic from his outpost, and Naruto collecting information from right under the ships.

Things changed the beginning of the third week, just when it seamed like nothing was going to happen.

Naruto was beginning his patrol when he felt something familiar back in the Land of Whirlpool.

Swimming back and easily navigating through the whirlpools from underwater, Naruto noticed a new boat docked Uzugakure.

Looking up from the water, Naruto was just able to make out the markings on the prowl of the ship.

'Kumo! What are they doing here? Must be to examine the situation like we are. I got to tell Tenzo!'

1."Well this place sure is a dump." complained Karui as she looked around the ruined village. "Hasn't anyone bothered to try to rebuild?"

"There wasn't anyone left to rebuild. Don't you remember your history? They were all wiped out or fled to Konoha." exasperated Omoi.

"Quiet, you two" hissed Samui. "Just because this place is dead, doesn't mean that there could be enemies waiting around here."

As his students bickered, Killer Bee smiled as he observed the village. Something to his right seamed to be nagging on his consciousness, but he didn't know what it was.

"Do you feel something...familiar?" said a woman walking up next to him.

Killer Bee turned his head and looked at Yugito as she moved to stand next to him.

"Yea" he said, his smile disappearing.

From a small water way on the other side of a building Naruto quickly surfaced and radioed in to Tenzo.

"Tenzo, this is Kitsune. Five Kumo shinobi have landed in Uzugakure. One of them matches the description of one of Kumo's Jinchuuriki, I repeat-" but Naruto never got the chance to repeat, as the wall he was up against exploded in a wave of malevolent chakra.

XxXxX

When Yamato got Naruto's message he didn't even have time to ask what he was doing back in Uzugakure before the transmission was cut off.

"Komachi, Kaga! Pull out now! Something has happened with Kitsune back in Uzugakure. Five Kumo shinobi with the possibility of a Jinchuuriki with them. I repeat, retreat and back Kitsune up. Over and out"

Not waiting for a reply, Yamato abandoned his observation post and started to run back towards Uzugakure. Whatever Naruto's reason for going back to the dead village, he'll figure it out, once he saves the boy's life.

XxXxX

Naruto was blasted out of his hiding space and into the opening water, where he came to a rest on the surface, using chakra to keep himself from sinking.

"Well, well, well, looks like we have a little lost fox? Why don't you go play in a park?" taunted Killer Bee.

Looking up Naruto saw Killer Bee and Yugito standing in front of him on the docks with Samui flanking his left and Omoi and Karui flanking his right.

It suddenly hit Naruto why that feeling was familiar, it was the same feeling he got when he meet Gaara. But it wasn't coming just from the big guy in front of him, it was, while a little different, also coming from the girl next to him too.

'Oh shit'

"You know, Yugito-chan, I think our little fox friend her has just realized who he's in the presence of. You may call me Lord Jinchuuriki, your superior and better little fox. Now what village are you from and who do you contain? No point in trying to hide it, we can tell you are one of us."

"He's from Konoha" said Yugito, examining Naruto.

"Really? How can you tell?" Killer Bee asked, almost conversationally to Yugito, disregarding Naruto.

"Only Konoha uses that type of ANBU equipment."

"Oh...But I didn't think Konoha had a Jinchuuriki. Unless of course they made one...that's who you contain! The Kyuubi! You know, now that I think about it, that mask doesn't help you hide which Bijū you contain at all..." remarked Killer Bee with a shake of his head.

"So I've heard" sarcastically replied Naruto.

"Ah, so he speaks! Can't be that old though? Must be around my student's age. Isn't that a little young for a peace loving Konoha nin to be in the ANBU?"

Again, Naruto refused to answer, instead trying to figure out how to get out of this mess alive.

"Well, enough playing around with masks an toys, time to play with the big boys!" said Killer Bee before he charged at Naruto.

His speed was much faster that Naruto anticipated and his hand, coated in the Hachibi's chakra, slammed into Naruto's face, shattering his mask.

Naruto went tumbling back, and came up with his sword drawn and a snarl on his lips and blood streaming down his face as the scales covering his face slowly regenerated. The Kyuubi's chakra began to leak out and a faint red cloak was already forming around Naruto

"Wow, so you're really green all over" commented Killer Bee as he looked at Naruto's face. "Must be some kind of bloodlimit... Never seen it before, but you Konoha nins keep pulling them out of your asses all the time you would thing ever one in your village had something."

"Killer Bee, stop. We are not here for this. Konoha ANBU always travel in teams, his teammates could be anywhere" said Yugito. "We can not afford to make a scene here."

Before Killer Bee could open his mouth to protest, Tenzo spoke up, "I would listen to the Lady if I were you."

Looking to his students the cocky expression on Killer Bee's face dropped as he saw Naruto's ANBU team holing their swords to their necks. Each one of his students was taken off guard before they could protest or even fight.

"Well, I guess that was fun" said Killer Bee, raising his hands to show that he held nothing in them. "Let my team go and we will get out of your way."

"Fine, Kitsune, disengage, Kitsune… KITSUNE!" Tenzo yelled at Naruto.

Since the hit to his face, Naruto had been seeing red and wanted nothing better than to fight Killer Bee. Tenzo's yell snapped him out of his rage and he brought his rising Kyuubi chakra under control.

Nodding to Tenzo, he began to sink into the water just as the rest of his team released their hostage and shunshin away.

Right as he fully submerged under the waves, he gave Killer Bee a look, 'This is not over.'

XxXxX

Once the Konoha shinobi were gone and Killer Bee assessed the health of his team, Yugito said to him, "You know, that boy looked like he wanted to kill you for what you did."

"A let him try, and we will see him cry!"

XxXxX

Naruto and the ANBU team remained in Whirlpool country for two more weeks after the encounter with the Kumo team. The two teams avoided each other for the remainder of their stay, watching Kiri for any sign of destabilization or attack. But it never came.

At the end of the two weeks the situation calmed down and reports came in that the Mizukage had been replaced. What his fate was, they did not know, all they knew was removed from office and that the Kiri council was currently and holding firm the reins of power in Kiri before a new Mizukage could be chosen.

Their time in Whirlpool over, the Konoha nins quickly and quietly packed up and left, leaving under the cover of darkness.

The trip back was uneventful, with the team passing through the Land of Waves and crossing over the now complete Great Mizu Bridge (not the Great Naruto Bridge).

After that is was a days travel back to Konoha where they faced a mission debriefing before being allowed a couple of days rest.

XxXxX

In his office, Sarutobi looked over the mission report from Yamato and his team. He was glad that the situation in the Land of Water was able to resolve itself internally, but the encounter that Naruto had with both of the Kumo Jinchuuriki worried him.

Looking up from the report, Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya sitting on the window sill, looking out over the village.

"What do you make of this?" asked Sarutobi handing the report over to his former student.

Quickly reading over the report, Jiraiya said, "Their observations confirmed what my sources in the Land of Water have told me. But this part here about a confrontation between Naruto and the Kumo Jinchuuriki...what the hell were you thinking sending him on that mission in the first place sensei? If he had encountered one of Kiri's Jinchuuriki or was discovered to be one himself by Kiri, who knows what the consequences would have been!"

Not showing the lest bit concern over the hostile tone of his student, Sarutobi answered, "His bloodlimit lent him perfect for this mission, and it was felt that, in case Kiri turned hostile or the Mizukage went on a rampage, it was best to have our own Jinchuuriki stationed nearby to quickly respond to the threat. Kumo, it seems, had the same idea as well."

"Our Jinchuuriki!? For the love of god, sensei, do you hear yourself speaking! This is Minato and Kushina's son we are talking about! And your treating him just like Suna treated it's Jinchuuriki!"

Jumping to his feet and slamming his hands on his desk, "I have NOT treated the boy like that! He was given the choice to join the ANBU on his own accord and he did!"

"Given the choice? Your pulled him from the chunin exams and basically threatened that if didn't accept that he wouldn't advance. And don't you try to deny it! No matter what you said, do you really think that he ever had the option of answering 'no'?

Sitting down with a sigh, Sarutobi looked tiredly up at his student. "You've made this argument before. Please, give it a rest. I know you were hoping to have a chance to train the boy yourself, but it seams fate had a different path for him. He has already been told who his mother was, and has even starting learning her jutsus as well as Whirlpool village jutsus that were brought here by the survivors."

"Fine" said Jiraiya is a huff, "But I still want to spend some mission time with the boy, to both get a gauge on his skill and check on the condition of the seal."

"That can be arranged." said Sarutobi passing Jiraiya another folder. "Very soon we might be needing Tsunade's skills. I want you to bring her back, and you can take a small team with you to aid you too."

"Very well, I'll take to boy with me on this mission then. How soon do you want us to leave?"

"In a few days, give the boy a chance to rest up for two days before heading out. We'll talk about this in greater detail soon. Good night Jiraiya."

"Night sensei" said Jiraiya dropping from the window.

'This is the best path' thought Sarutobi looking out over the village before turning towards the picture of Minato over the door. 'You would agree with me, right?'

XxXxX

(1) I am really sorry...I tried to do Killer Bee to the best of my ability (with his bad rapping and all) so if I offend anyone, my bad... Also if you don't know who Killer Bee or his students are, then look them up on .com

That encounter with Killer Bee will be important to later chapters, just you wait and see!

So please, tell me what you think of this chapter!

Ja ne!


	16. Announcement

Hello,

Due to multiple of reasons, I have decided to abandon this story. It has been adopted by BladeMaster Zangetsumaru under the title of "Aquatic Kitsune".

I thank every one of you who read my story and I request you go and give BladeMaster Zangetsumaru's story a try.

Thank you,

-Gomjibar22


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